Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative: Ecologists in Action to Bill Williams: “You are a liar”

By Barbara With*
Posted Dec. 31, 2013, on Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative
Reprinted in part with permission.

In an interview on WORT 89.9 (Madison, Wis.) on December 30, 2013, host Brian Standing and translator Martin Alvarado spoke with geologist Antonio Ramos, a member of the Spanish ecological federation Ecologistas en Acción (Ecologists in Action) who are helping to bring charges against Gogebic Taconite (GTac) President Bill Williams. Williams was general manager at Cobre Las Cruces copper mine near Seville when the company allegedly conducted unpermitted and illegal activities that caused irreparable damage to the aquifer serving Seville.

According to Ramos, once the water from the mine was exposed to oxygen, a chemical reaction took place that generated acid and liberated arsenic from the rock. This contaminated, acidic water should not have been pumped back into the aquifer. However, to save money and maximize profits, Cobre Las Cruces injected the contaminated water back into the aquifer, which was not permitted. All operations at the mine were halted, which is when the Regional Authority also discovered several illegal wells that had been drilled at the bottom of the mine. ...  Click here to read the rest of this article on the Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative Web site.

*Author Barbara With is a citizen journalist from La Pointe, Wis.

Wisconsin Citizens Media Coop: Spain’s Damning Evidence on Bill Williams’ Complicity in Crimes Against Environment

By Barbara With
Posted Dec. 14, 2013 on Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative (WCMC)
Reprinted in part with permission

As Gogebic Taconite (GTac) President Bill Williams is being sought for alleged crimes against the environment committed while he was overseeing the Cobre Las Cruces (CLC) mine in Seville, Spain, WCMC has obtained documents that highlight the severity of those charges.

Together with other publicly available evidence, these documents reveal disturbing similarities between CLC operations in Spain and GTac’s behavior in Wisconsin, and raise serious questions about the motives of Bill Williams and his boss, the playboy coal magnate Chris Cline.
Photo inset: GTac Lobbyists, from left, Bob Seitz and Tim Myers, and President Bill Williams at Aug 13, 2013, (Wisconsin) DNR hearing on their bulk sample application. 
(Photo © and courtesy Rebecca Kemble)

CLC Investors

The CLC story begins in 1994. Leucadia National Corp., a multibillion dollar holding company, was alerted about a copper mine for sale in Spain by Frank Joklik, the former president of Kennecott Utah Copper Corporation -- owned by one of the world’s largest mining companies, Rio Tinto. Leucadia hired Joklik as president and CEO of MK Gold in 1995, despite his poor track record at Kennecott, where he concealed the dangers of a mine-waste pond in Salt Lake County, Utah. ... Click here to read the rest of this article on the WCMC Web site.

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)

Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative: Bill Williams’ Spanish Mistake Is Wisconsin’s Nightmare

By Joseph Skulan and Barbara With
Posted Nov. 30, 2013, on Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative

Gogebic Taconite (GTac) President Bill Williams will likely be brought to trial in Spain for his part in the environmental crimes allegedly committed by the Cobre Las Cruces (CLC) mining operation while he was a senior manager of the company, according to court documents obtained from Ecologistas en Acción (EIA).

One of the complaints filed with the Spanish courts alleges that Williams, who went to work at CLC in 2006, failed to follow official technical standards relating to the grade of mine wall slopes set forth by CEDEX (a policy, research and training agency of the Spanish Ministry of Public Works). The complaint further alleges that Williams’ decision to ignore these standards resulted in the collapse of the walls of the mine. ...

Click here to read the rest of this article on Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative.

Editor's Note: See also Joseph Skulan's "Letter to Spain: An introduction to GTac’s proposed Penokee Hills iron mine," posted today, Dec. 2, 2013, on Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative.

Editor's Update:  Also just posted today, Dec. 2, 2013, on Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative: "Dispatch from the Penokee Hills," by Mel Gasper. Lac Courte Oreilles tribal member and administrator fo the Harvest Educational Learning Project (HELP) near Mellen, Wis.

Statement by Gogebic Taconite after Wisconsin Senate vote

The following is a statement by Gogebic Taconite President Bill Williams on the March 6 Wisconsin State Senate "Rejection of Mining Reforms" (amended Assembly Bill 426):

"Senate rejection of the mining reforms in Assembly Bill 426 sends a clear message that Wisconsin will not welcome iron mining. We get the message. GTac is ending plans to invest in a Wisconsin mine. We thank the many people who have supported our efforts."

Editor's Notes: Earlier today Keweenaw Now reported an Associated Press version of this statement. We removed our announcement after being told the source had been in error. The above statement is from the official press release from Gogebic Taconite, dated March 6, 2012.

See the March 6, 2012, Journal Sentinel Online article, "Mining firm drops out after Wisconsin bill rejected," for more details. According to this article, "A week ago, in an email, Williams said Gogebic did some mineral exploration in Michigan last summer and has discussed mining with officials in that state."

In a phone conversation today, Steve Casey, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Water Resources Upper Peninsula district supervisor, told Keweenaw Now that Gogebic Taconite did make some brief contacts with the Michigan DEQ last summer concerning exploration in Michigan.

"I have not heard of them making contacts (with the DEQ) since then," Casey added.

Also, a March 2, 2012, article in the Duluth News Tribune said Gogebic Taconite had struck a tentative deal to pipe in 1.2 million gallons of water a day from Ironwood, Mich., for processing the ore into taconite. See: "Gogebic Taconite agrees to water deal for planned mine."