You win some, you lose some, and you keep fighting! Laura Gauger goes to federal court in 2013 with high hopes of holding the mining industry accountable for water pollution at the Flambeau Mine site. She and her fellow plaintiffs won their Clean Water Act case against Flambeau Mining Company in U.S. District Court but lost on appeal (Photo by Joan Kemble of Madison, WI, April 23, 2013).
Five separate legal actions were brought against Flambeau Mining Company (FMC) between 2004 and 2014 in efforts to address water pollution problems at the partially reclaimed Flambeau Mine site. Click on the below links to learn what happened in each of these actions:
- 2004: Direct Petition to Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to pursue enforcement action against FMC for discharging pollutants into a tributary of the Flambeau River known as Stream C
- 2007: Contested Case Hearing over FMC’s application for a Certificate of Completion for reclamation of the Flambeau Mine site;
- 2009: Threatened lawsuit against FMC and the Wisconsin DNR in State of Wisconsin Circuit Court over surface water and groundwater pollution at the Flambeau Mine site
- 2010-2014: Clean Water Act Lawsuit against FMC in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin
- 2012: Petition to the Wisconsin DNR and United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to add Stream C at the Flambeau Mine site to the agency’s official list of “impaired waters” due to copper and zinc toxicity linked to the Flambeau Mine operation
Flambeau Mine Exposed - I 
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