letter to the editor

 Via the Ashland Current... A letter to the editor:

No Longer In Support Of Gogebic Taconite Mine

taconite dreams and ignorant hopes

A shovel is moving rock from a future taconite mining site in Hibbing. (MPR Photo/Bob Kelleher)

Will taconite mining be the answer for Northern Wisconsin's economic decline?


Groups like Cline Mining Corporation and Gogebic Taconite LLC. (GTac) seem to think so.
Oh, and by the way, GTac is actually just an alias of Cline Mining Corp.
Both of these companies have also been very generous to our great leader, Gov. Scott Walker.
The Cline Corp and GTac gave Walker a hansom gift of $10,000 during last years campaign season.

No surprise that "Wisconsin is now OPEN for business."

How does an out of state corporation donate a large sum of money and at the same time acquire mineral rights with new plans for "state of the art" mining without much attention? Do they really think that people will just sit back and take it?

Mining groups do not have a reputation for being positive forces for community nor the environment. Cline/GTac aren't the exception either. They state that the local economy will be the greatest beneficiary of mining the taconite from the Penokee Range.

Since when has the local economy of any community enjoyed the destruction that open pit mining has to offer?  Unless that is, people enjoy contaminated water, lung cancer, and the beautiful landscaping mining has to offer. The only people who truly benefit are big corporation CEOs, who, in my opinion, don't actually qualify as people. They use the land until its resources and people are depleted, leave a damaged ecosystem behind and move on to prey on another community.

More to come... for now let's keep hope this mining project can be stopped. Please, contact your local representative if you share these concerns:

Janet Bewely:

Madison Office Room 420 North State Capitol P.O. Box 8953 Madison, WI 53708	Voting Address 810 Chapple Ave. Ashland, WI 54806
Telephone (608) 266-7690 Or (888) 534-0074	District Telephone (715) 682-0285
Fax (608) 282-3674
Email Rep.Bewley@legis.wi.gov

Robert Jauch: Madison Office Room 415 South State Capitol P.O. Box 7882 Madison, WI 53707-7882	Voting Address 5271 South Maple Drive Poplar, WI 54864
Telephone (608) 266-3510 Or (800) 469-6562	District Telephone (715) 364-2438
Fax (608) 266-3580
Email Sen.Jauch@legis.wisconsin.gov

Please visit http://www.savethewatersedge.com/ for more detailed and up to date information.