"Tensions between the Gogebic Taconite mining company and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources rose to new heights last week in a public dispute over how much regulatory authority remains in the agency’s hands under a 2013 law that rolled back environmental restrictions to make iron mining easier."

"The company objected to a DNR research document that listed environmental hazards of mining, and it has sharply criticized the extent of agency questions about plans to dig up rock for testing.

But the dispute over what is allowed and what isn’t under the untested mining law may be a preview of what is to come when the company seeks state permission for an open pit mine that would stretch 4 1/2 miles long and 800 feet deep in the forested hills of Iron and Ashland counties."
 
Steven Verburg reports for the Wisconsin State Journal January 19, 2014. [2]