From Mother Jones: http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/07/walker-backed-mine-hires-militiamen-intimidate-protesters
Welcome to the scary new world of mining in Scott Walker’s Wisconsin.
By Kate Sheppard
Tue Jul. 16, 2013
Debate over a proposed open-pit iron ore mine in northern Wisconsin went from heated to outright bizarre last week when masked guards brandishing assault rifles showed up at the site in the remote and scenic wilderness of Penokee Hills.
Local activist Rob Ganson, 56, first came upon three heavily armed guards while leading a small group on a hike to view the mining site. (The drilling site is on private land, but the owner has been given a tax break in exchange for keeping it open to public use.) The guards, said Ganson, carried semi-automatic guns, were dressed in camouflage, and wore masks covering their faces. “As you can imagine, it was quite a shock for five middle-aged people out for a walk,” he said. Ganson tried to engage the guards, but was “met with stony-faced silence.” He was alarmed but managed to grab a few photos of the men. “I was thinking if the worst scenario happened, at least there would be photos on my camera.”
After they determined that the guards worked for Arizona-based Bulletproof Security, Ganson and the other activists posted their photos of the guards online, drawing local and national news coverage of the mine, a proposed four-mile-long, 1,000-feet-deep open pit operation in Ashland and Iron counties. In June, the company began exploratory drilling in the region for taconite, a type of iron ore used in steel.
Last Wednesday, the mining company, Gogebic Taconite—G-Tac for short—a subsidiary of the West Virginia-based Cline Group, pulled the armed guards after finding that the security firm lacked permits to work in the state. A spokesman for the company has said that the Bulletproof guards will be back once they’re properly licensed.
One of the activists in the area, however, told Mother Jones on Monday that a new group of armed guards—including one whose shirt bore the insignia for Watchmen of America, a militia group active in at least 21 states—was on patrol last Thursday, the day after Gogebic Taconite pulled the Bulletproof guards.* A spokesman for G-Tac said that the guards are necessary to protect its workers from “eco-terrorists.” The company pointed to an incident in June when protesters had a confrontation with workers; one of the protesters allegedly took a worker’s camera. But most of the protesters’ actions around the mine have been peaceful; local tribes have planted a small garden nearby, and others are leading educational tours on the ecology of the region.
Continue reading at: http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/07/walker-backed-mine-hires-militiamen-intimidate-protesters
