G-TAC closure puts mining committee on hold

HURLEY — With the future of the Iron County Mining Impact Committee uncertain following the Feb. 27 announcement by Gogebic Taconite that it was closing the company’s Hurley office, committee Chairwoman Leslie Kolesar thanked the committee for their work.

“Right now, with no mine project moving forward, I don’t know when this committee is going to meet again. Maybe it will be six months, maybe it will be a year, maybe it won’t be happening again. So I would like to let everyone know that if this committee doesn’t meet again, it has been my pleasure,” said Kolesar at the end of the meeting. “In the three years that we’ve been meeting, I don’t recall a cross word among any of us. We’ve all gotten along really well and have recognized that mining is a very complicated issue.”

Kolesar added that in Madison, where the issue was extremely contentious, the committee was known as “the voice of reason.”

“That’s something for all of us to be proud of,” Kolesar said.

The committee took no action during the meeting, however, the committee members agreed to several items that didn’t require formal motions. Given the lack of an active mining project, the committee agreed not to spend money on an analysis of the impact of mining — the possibility of state funds for the analysis would be extremely low according to Kolesar — or on traveling to a conference in Duluth in April.

They also agreed to continue to seek reimbursement for money that was spent on items — such as travel costs and speaker expenses — that are reimbursable from the state mining board. Kolesar said she estimated over $60,000 in expenses that she believes will be reimbursed for various reasons.