LANSING, MI Upper Peninsula lawmakers on Monday expressed displeasure with a recent Michigan administrative law judge decision to overturn a previously approved wetlands permit for the proposed Back Forty Mine in Menominee County, which is set to mine gold, zinc, and copper.
“Mining has been a critical component of the Upper Peninsula way of life for generations,” said Sens. Ed McBroom and Reps. Greg Markkanen, Beau LaFave and Sara Cambensy. “Our state has enacted some of the most stringent mining and environmental regulations in the world to ensure that Michigan mines must operate as good stewards and valued parts of our local communities.
LANSING, MI The recent veto of a bill that would have allowed first-time offenders convicted of operating a vehicle while intoxicated (OWI) to have their convictions set aside is a disservice to those who have paid their debts to society, said Sen. Ed McBroom and Rep. Beau LaFave.
Senate Bill 1254, sponsored last session by McBroom, would have created the OWI set-aside allowance, and would have built upon other set-aside legislation that was passed and signed into law by the governor last year.
“It frankly doesn’t make much sense that the governor chose to sign similar legislation letting first-time marijuana or sex crime convictions to be set aside, for example, but not to allow set-asides for people with one OWI conviction,” said McBroom, R-Waucedah Township. “If a person has served their time and paid their debts to society, it is in the best interest of everyone that they get back on their feet and become productive members of society.