New group attacks conservationists, touts mining
A new advocacy group, the Natural Resource Development Association, has emerged as a vocal advocate for pro-mining causes and clashed with conservationists along the way.
Little has been revealed about the group’s support. Until now.
Last week, its communications director, who has strong Republican ties, shed some light on the association’s backing and its reason for starting up in the wake of a 2017 law change that is paving the way to mineral mining in Wisconsin for the first time in decades.
Nathan Conrad said the Madison-based associa-
tion has two leading members:
Aquila Resources Inc., of Toronto, is a mining development company with projects in Wisconsin. Aquila supported last year’s law that overturned a moratorium on sulfide mining. The company’s projects include a gold mine in Marathon County now in the exploration stage.
Meteor Timber is a company that needs state approval to build a $70 million sand processing plant and rail spur in western Wisconsin. The plant is being challenged by environmental groups in a state proceeding.
In recent weeks, Meteor has created a stir over of a pair of last-minute amendments by Republicans in the Assembly to exempt the company from requirements in a state wetland permit needed for its project. The Senate would still need to act.
The registered lobbyists for the parent company of Meteor include former Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, the brother of Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau); and veteran lobbyist Eric Petersen, whose clients include the Milwaukee Brewers, General Motors and Robert W. Baird, according to state records.
Conrad declined to provide details on how much funding is coming from the companies, or from other sources. The two companies did not respond to calls and emails to discuss their reasons for supporting the association.
Natural Resource Development Association is a nonprofit 501 (c) (4) organization, which has become a popular vehicle for political groups and does not require them to disclose donors. The group has recently hired an executive director and Conrad said both are recruiting members.
“We want to be an active voice to push back on what we perceive as the false narrative about resource development companies,” Conrad said.
He said he envisioned the association as a way to leverage his background in politics and regulatory issues. “I constantly saw that the business community was being thrown under the bus,” he said.
Conrad is a former spokesman for the Republican Party of Wisconsin. He has also worked in communications capacities at the state Public Service Commission and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
He is corporate communications director for Platform Communications, a public affairs and crisis communications firm founded in 2017 by Keith Gilkes, a political veteran and Gov. Scott Walker’s first chief of staff.
Platform and NRDA are independent of each other and Gilkes plays no role in the association’s work, Conrad said.
NRDA’s incorporation papers were filed by Kate Lind, a lawyer and consultant who is also treasurer of Walker’s campaign, according to state records.
Recently joining Conrad is Robert E. Quick Jr., a former president of the Arizona Mining Association and former director of government affairs for Asarco, a Tucson-based mining and refining company.
Conrad’s work has included the repeal of the mining moratorium law (for which Conrad billed $45,593 in lobbying expenses in the second half of 2017), support for easing restrictions on wetlands development and spokesman for Meteor.
Wisconsin’s mining moratorium required a company to show another sulfide mine in the United States or Canada operated for at least 10 years and then was closed for 10 years without pollution. Wisconsin was the only state with such a restriction, which kept mining companies out of the state since 1997. Sulfide deposits can release acidic material in water in a process known as acid mine drainage.
Conrad leaned heavily on Twitter and Facebook to tout the economic benefits of mining and mute the criticism of opponents.
Last fall, as a mining critic was testifying before a legislative hearing in Ladysmith on the bill, Conrad used social media to highlight the fact that Al Gedicks, a long-time environmental activist, had a felony conviction for possession of a fire bomb in 1970.
“When your argument cannot win — is violence your answer?” Conrad wrote on Facebook.
Conrad has lambasted two environmental groups, Clean Wisconsin and Midwest Environmental Advocates, for trying to derail Meteor’s sand project, calling them “obstructionists,” “extremist groups,” with “outwardly confrontational behavior” who are pursuing a “baseless” lawsuit in a series of statements.
The land in Monroe County now features a rare hardwoods swamp, and in May the Department of Natural Resources approved the company’s plans to destroy 16.25 acres of wetlands in exchange for the company making a series of environmental improvements.
In addition to verbal barbs, Conrad has issued a detailed defense of the company, highlighting numerous conservation practices that would come with the project, including the restoration of a trout stream and idling a fertilizer-intensive cranberry bog.
“I think it’s very important to have a voice that advocates for responsible resource development,” said Sen. Tom Tiffany (R-Hazelhurst,) the lead sponsor to change state mining laws. “Otherwise, you will have corporate environmental groups who will dominate the message.”
Amber Meyer Smith, director of programs and government relations for Clean Wisconsin, said her group has been operating for nearly 50 years in Wisconsin.
“We’ve done a real good job trying to balance environmental protection and the economy and Natural Resource Development Association has been around for, a year?” she said.
“And they’ve done nothing but try to get around existing laws for some of these extractive industries that have the potential to do major damage to our environment.”
On March 22, for the second time in a month, the Assembly approved an amendment in the waning minutes of a session, to exempt Meteor from requirements that would allow the company to move ahead with the project.
Scott Fitzgerald, the Senate majority leader, said last week that he has no plans to have his house return to the floor this year.
But he said this could change if state officials reach a deal with KimberlyClark Corp. to save two paper plants from closing. It’s unclear whether in that case the Senate might also take up the Meteor exemptions.
Conrad, who has spoken favorably about the Assembly’s action, said he did not work on the amendment. In addition to Jeff Fitzgerald and Petersen, the two other lobbyists registered as working for the parent of Meteor, Timberland Investment Resources, are Bryan Brooks and Joe Leibham, a former state senator. None returned requests for comment.