Tag Archives: Bulk Sampling Permit

GTac Bulk Sample Trucks Routed Through Bad River Reservation

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GTac truck hauling bulk sample rock out of Moore Park Road. Photo: Pete Rasmussen

GTac truck hauling bulk sample rock out of Moore Park Road. Photo: Pete Rasmussen

Due to bridge restrictions in the town of Mellen, Gogebic Taconite (GTac) is routing their trucks carrying bulk sample rock through the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Reservation.

The route of the trucks hauling the samples is from Moore Park Road, east into Hurley on Highway 77, north on 51 and then to Highway 2, back west across the Bad River Reservation, and through Ashland on their way to Minnesota. The loads can’t travel through the shorter, more cost-effective route through Mellen because of a bridge restriction in the center of town.

Controversy continues to follow GTac, as asbestiform minerals have been found and confirmed at several bulk sample sites by Dr. Tom Fitz, geologist from Northland College. Asbestiform particles are responsible for mesothelioma, an incurable lung disease common around iron ore mines. GTac loads stand to spread the airborne particles along the route.

Due to bridge restrictions in Mellen, GTac is being forced to use a longer route through the Bad River Reservation.

Due to bridge restrictions in Mellen, GTac is being forced to use a longer route through the Bad River Reservation.

In an interview last October with WPR, Bad River Chair Mike Wiggins Jr. accused GTac of covering up the presence of the dangerous mineral. “A cover-up of asbestos [that] geologists and children could walk in there and see with the naked eye,” he said. “[It] is such a compelling, premeditation for disaster, a disaster that would befall the Bad River Reservation and non-tribal people of the Bad River Watershed. It’s a deal breaker. Explode an asbestos rock that Tom Fitz has found with the highest level of asbestos he’s ever seen in some of those rocks and tell me how that’s creating the circle of life. I’ll say this: It’s recreating the circle of life by causing death.”

Wiggins noted that Bad River wardens briefly detained one of the nine trucks that passed through the reservation yesterday.

Meanwhile, about 100 concerned citizens gathered Sunday at the entrance to one of the bulk sample sites to demonstrate support of clean air, clean water and the new mining laws. At least 20 people crossed over into the “forbidden zone” that the latest in GTac-bought legislation created around the bulk sample sites to prevent the public from observing their activities.

DNR Holding Public Hearing on GTAC Bulk Sample Permit

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photo: Ros Nelson

photo: Ros Nelson

News Release Published: August 1, 2013 by the Central Office

Contact(s): Ann Coakley, DNR Waste and Materials director – 608-516-2492.

MADISON – The Department of Natural Resources has scheduled a public informational hearing August 15 on the proposed bulk sampling activity and the preapplication notice to mine at Gogebic Taconite’s potential mining project near Mellen, Wisconsin.

The bulk sampling activity and potential mining site are located in the town of Anderson, Iron County, and the town of Morse in Ashland County, with the majority of the site in Iron County. For bulk sampling, the company has proposed to remove a total of 4,000 tons of rock. The rock would be removed from four or five sites using standard excavating equipment and could also involve some blasting activity. The rock would be loaded on to haul trucks and transported off-site for testing and analysis.

The hearing will be held at the Hurley High School, 5503 W. Range View Drive, Hurley, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. The hearing will be a public informational hearing, where individuals can provide oral or written comments as well as learn about the proposed bulk sampling activity and the preapplication description of the potential mine project.

Agency staff will provide a brief summary of the available information about the bulk sampling and DNR approvals needed by Gogebic Taconite. These informational presentations will be at 10 a.m. and again at 5 p.m., The department will also provide a summary of the steps that must be followed prior to the submission of a mining application for the project.

The department will accept both written and oral comments at the hearing on the proposed bulk sampling activities and the preapplication description. A hearing officer will be present to conduct the hearing and may put time limits on individual oral statements to ensure an opportunity for all persons present to make statements. The hearing officer may also limit the number of representatives making oral statements on behalf of any person or group.

The public may also submit written questions at the hearing through the hearing officer, and there may be an opportunity for department staff to respond as part of the hearing.

30-day public comment period ends September 3

Any member of the public may also submit written comments on the proposed bulk sampling activity or the preapplication description of the potential mining project. The DNR will review all comments that are received on or before Sept. 3, 2013.

Comments may be submitted via mail to Larry Lynch, DNR, 101 S. Webster Street, Madison, Wisconsin 53707, or by e-mail to: DNRWAMINING-GOGEBICTACONITE@Wisconsin.gov.

More information available on-line and at local libraries

Information submitted to the agency by Gogebic Taconite, including the proposed bulk sample plan and preapplication description, is available on the Gogebic mining project page of the DNR website. People can sign up to receive email updates on the project through that page by clicking on the link for “subscribe to Gogebic Taconite project email updates.”

Gogebic Taconite’s project materials are also available at the Hurley Public Library, 405 5th Ave. N., Hurley, 715-561-5707; and at the Vaughn Public Library, 502 West Main St., Ashland, 715-682-7060.