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Source: Milwaukee Journal SentinelSept.self storage 04--MADISON -- Lawmakers watched video of aggressive environmental protesters as they took testimony Wednesday on a bill to shut off public access to a proposed iron mine site in northern Wisconsin.The bill calls for an exemption in the state's managed forest land law, which provides property tax relief for landowners in exchange for managing the land for forestry and allowing the public to hunt, fish and hike on it. Gogebic Taconite has mining rights to the privately owned land within the proposed site, which is enrolled in the managed forest program.The bill would allow Gogebic to close that land and prevent public access until state officials decide on a possible mining permit for the site.Gogebic has met strong opposition from protesters as it begins to study whether to mine the four-mile stretch of land on the boundary between Iron and Ashland counties. At Wednesday's hearing, lawmakers on a Senate committee watched the video of the June incident in which protesters are shown yelling dozens of obscenities and some threats at Gogebic workers on the site. During the incident, one protester stole a camera from a worker.The proposal's lead sponsor, Sen. Tom Tiffany (R-Hazelhurst), told the panel that the video proved that the Legislature had to change the forestry law and limit public access to protect Gogebic's workers and property from "eco-terrorists.""It brings me no joy to have to do this, but this is about people's public safety and we have to find a way to protect people," Tiffany said.The bill is moving quickly through the Senate, with a vote scheduled for Thursday in the Senate Committee on Workforce Development, Forestry, Mining, and Revenue. Tiffany, who also chairs that Senate panel, has said he wants to see a floor vote on the bill by the end of September.Sen. John Lehman (D-Racine) said he agreed with Tiffany that some action needed to be taken to respond to the protest. But rather than close thousands of acres, Lehman suggested that lawmakers could allow for managed forest lands to be closed to the public at a certain distance from mining workers, such as 300 feet. Current law provides a similar exemption in the managed forest law for logging work, he said."Rather than go after the whole 3,500 (acres) why don't you just draw a circle around the workers and then say OK, you can't get in their face like that?" Lehman asked.Sen. Bob Jauch (D-Poplar), a mining skeptic who represents the region around the site, pointed out that under the managed forest law a private land owner can take his or her property out of the program at any time, pay a penalty, and then close their land to the public.Jauch said the bill would save the company a large sum of extra property taxes that would otherwise go to local schools and governments."The result of your bill is to limit recreational activity and give a special benefit to one company alone," Jauch said.Tiffany said that under the bill company would still have to pay more to close the land to the public than if it is left open."They will have to pay a迷你倉penalty for changing the status of this land," he said.Bob Seitz, speaking for Gogebic Taconite, said the company supported the bill because it would protect company employees from potential confrontations with protesters on the land, noting that the company has already paid $30,000 for off-duty sheriff's deputies to keep watch on the land. He said the idea of creating a limited circle around a work site to keep out the public wouldn't be practical.Gogebic workers, for instance, are constantly moving around different parts of the vast property. The protesters in the June incident also sought to slow the arrival of police by putting up roadblocks on parts of the access road far from the actual work site, he said."We're looking at a situation where someone can walk all in black on this site, wearing a mask and carrying a sledgehammer... and we can't ask them to leave until they actually take that sledgehammer and use it," Seitz said.Seitz said the proposal would allow the company to close off about 3,500 acres of the 21,000 acres for which it has mining rights.He said the company wanted to keep the land open for hunting and fishing as much as possible and would try to compensate for closed land by allowing the public to use vehicles on logging roads in other areas on the property, something that is not required of private landowners under the managed forest law.George Meyer, executive director of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, said that he agreed with the goals of the bill to protect workers but had concerns about how it would affect hunters seeking deer, grouse and black bear on the land. For instance, the bill should require the landowner to post signs so that hunters know which parts of the property are open and closed, he said.Meyer said the bill should keep the land open until Gogebic reaches an agreement with the DNR to close it for mining exploration. Instead, the bill presumes the land can be closed for mining until the company OKs an agreement with the DNR to open it."There are multiple generations of hunters who have used that property," Meyer said.Tracy Hames, executive director of the Wisconsin Wetlands Association, said that public access to the site is critical to ensure that scientists besides those on Gogebic's payroll can draw their own conclusions about the impact of the proposed mine.Following the June confrontation between demonstrators and mining workers, protester Katie Kloth of Stevens Point was charged with felony robbery for taking the worker's camera. In response, Gogebic hired armed security guards from a private firm.Most of the surface and mineral rights for the land containing the iron deposit are currently owned by the LaPointe Iron Co. and RGGS Land & Minerals, Ltd., which have optioned potential development of the deposit to Gogebic.If developed, the project would likely include an open pit mining operation, a plant site and waste disposal facilities.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Visit the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel at .jsonline.com Distributed by MCT Information Services文件倉