A recent search of the internet for Wisconsin mining information brought up from a few hundred to several thousand sites depending on the search engine used. Something like 95% of the sites related to Wisconsin mining can be identified as having a negative, anti-mining and anti-development bent. To make matters worse, the bulk of the information presented is either erroneous, blatantly biased or written in a scare tactic format. Many of the sites, like the organizations they represent, are linked to others in such a fashion that the number of anti-mining organizations appear to be far more numerous than they actually are.

Some of these so-called educational sites are written by, or have contributions from, environmental "experts" who are obviously self-taught and well read, but are "experts" only within their own groups. In our opinion, even the "credentialed experts" are mostly short on mining and geologic backgrounds and even those with natural science expertise have personal views which range from "environmentally concerned" to strongly opposed. In fact, a majority of the "credentialed experts" are educators and their experience is mostly from "over the fence".

It is with this concern in mind that we have been asked by the Responsible Resource Development Coalition to help present the positive side of mining. There has been so much "Chicken Little" rhetoric on the internet for so long that even staunch supporters have a hard time maintaining objectivity and reality.