Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative: Ashland County Board Chair Calls for Repeal of Mining Law

By Pete Russo and Charles Ortman
Posted Dec. 8, 2013, on Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative
Reprinted in part with permission

[On December 7, 2013, in an editorial that ran in the Ashland Daily Press, Ashland County Board Chair Pete Russo and Board Member Charles Ortman called for a repeal of Act 1, the new (Wisconsin) ferrous mining law that was written by Gogebic Taconite and passed into law last March. - WCMC Editors]

Gogebic Taconite (GTac) President Bill Williams is wanted in Spain for his role in arsenic pollution of a river and aquifer near a mine he was involved in before coming here, despite promises that were made of "new technology" and "engineering our way out of anything." At some point engineering failed and arsenic began. Mr. Williams’ response to the Spaniards’ umbrage at arsenic in their aquifer, "It’s just opposition to the mining in that area."

Background knowledge of this area of Mr. Williams’ life would have undeniably changed the flavor of every hearing on the new ferrous mining law. Certainly his promise of new technology preventing any environmental degradation would have been met with the skepticism it deserved. ... Click here to read the rest of this article on the Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative Web site.

Photo (inset): Ashland County Board Chair Pete Russo, left, and Board Supervisor Charles Ortman at a press conference July 10, 2013 after GTac was caught employing
a paramilitary militia in Arizona to patrol their drill sites in the Penokee Hills. (Photo © and courtesy Rebecca Kemble)