Bluestem's world headquarters recently relocated to sunny Maynard in order to be closer to the upper Minnesota River, loveliest of prairie rivers.
The local watershed protectors, Clean Up the River Environment (CURE), will be hosting the Minnesota River History Weekend and Minnesota State Water Trails 50th Anniversary on Friday through Sunday. If you're a reader who wonders why the dirty hippies out here make such a fuss about threats to the upper valley's tranquility, consider checking this out:
Friday evening:
Grab some popcorn at Granite Falls' famous local Popcorn Stand and head over to watch a film and listen to great speakers!
with producers John Hickman and Jon Carlson (7 PM). This film tells
the story of people from all walks of life - academics, farmers,
natural resource professionals, anglers, homeowners, students, paddlers,
politicians, and citizen activists - who are working together to solve
the problems facing the Minnesota River. Read more about the film and speakers here.
with Erik Wrede, MN DNR Water Trails Coordinator and special guest Paul Ryberg (8 PM). Minnesota has the first and largest Water Trails system in the nation. Come
learn about the early years of the system, and the trip planning
resources and paddling opportunities that are now available. Plus, special guest Paul Ryberg will tell stories about growing up on the Minnesota River with his
family that will be honored for their efforts to "unleash the
recreational giant of canoeing." Read more about the presentation and
speakers here. Read more about the presentation and speakers here.
PRESENTATION. Reconnecting the Minnesota River by Luther Aadland, River Scientist, MN DNR (9:30 PM). His
work, research, and publications have included a wide variety of topics
that integrate physical and biological processes of rivers and the
design of river restoration, nature-like fish passage, dam removal,
erosion control, and flood damage reduction projects. Read more about Luther here.
Saturday's events include Paddling Theater, with options for riding on large fur-trading style canoes or on your own craft. Sunday is a self-organized paddling on the Chippewa River, Hawk Creek, Minnesota River and Yellow Medicine River meet at Memorial Park.
Meanwhile, Schmit lanuched an air war, the Red Wing Republican Eagle's Michael Brun reports in A bird’s-eye view of mining:
While debate over mining policy continues in St. Paul, Sen. Matt
Schmit chartered flights out of Red Wing Regional Airport Friday for
reporters to get a bird’s-eye view of the impact frac sand mines are
having across the river in Wisconsin.
The roughly hourlong flight,
piloted by Jim McIlrath from Frontenac in his homemade, single-engine
plane, toured more than a dozen mines dotting the Wisconsin countryside
around Menomonie and Eau Claire. . . .
. . .The Red Wing Democrat has been an active proponent in the Senate for increased regulation for frac sand mining in Minnesota.
He
has been involved with a number of mining-related bills in his
inaugural legislative session, including sponsoring an amendment to an
environmental bill that would prohibit frac sand mining within a mile of
state trout streams in southeastern Minnesota.
Read the rest at the Red Wing Republican Eagle. Meanwhile, in the Fillmore County, rural Houston resident Joan Redig noted in a Letter about Senator Miller and sand mining:
Sen. Matt Schmit of Red Wing, working with Trout Unlimited, has proposed provisions to protect trout streams in Southeast Minnesota from damage resulting from frac sand mining. He wanted these provisions included in the Game and Fish Policy Bill, Senate File 796. Pristine cold water springs in our karst area create some of the best trout streams in the United States. Frac sand mining threatens to pollute this water, and disrupt the flow of springs in ways that would raise the water temperature. Death for our trout. Our state has invested millions in stocking and protecting these streams. Trout fishing has provided over a billion dollars in economic activity in the Driftless Area. These special provisions in SF 796 only apply to the Paleozoic Plateau, which is our part of the Driftless Area.
We live within a mile of an old quarry being considered for frac sand mining. It is at the head of a drainage system which feeds our springs and a stream which flows into Money Creek, a tributary of Root River. All of this is threatened because we have no state level standards to protect our region’s trout streams. Sen. Schmit proposed: a mile setback from trout streams; a limit on how much groundwater frac sand facilities could use; and limiting mining to within 25 feet of the water table. DNR Commissioner Landwehr testified we need all of these provisions to protect the trout streams and groundwater. Despite this knowledge, Sen. Miller cast the deciding vote to kill these provisions. . . .
Finish reading the letter at the Journal. Bluestem understands that there's been discussion in the environment, natural resources and ag bill conference committee, but audio archives have yet to be posted. We'll listen to see what of interest was said and report back as they become available.
Photo: A silica sand mine near Menomonie, Wis. Aerial photo by Michael
Brun/Republican Eagle.
If you appreciate reading posts on Bluestem Prairie, consider making a donation via paypal:
The DFL legislature is prepared to sell out Southeastern Minnesota to industrial sand mining interests, despite widespread grassroots appeals for relief.
Environmental activists who pushed ambitious legislation to slow the advance of frac sand mining in Minnesota have been soundly defeated on their central proposals and, with less than two weeks left in the 2013 legislative session, are clinging to a fragile game and fish amendment as their last hope for a substantial breakthrough.
The amendment, which would block excavation within a mile of any trout stream in southeastern Minnesota, is strongly backed by Gov. Mark Dayton as a way to prevent an explosion of sand mining in a region where the state has invested millions of dollars over decades to nurture a blue-ribbon fishery.
But as the session winds down, even that idea is meeting resistance in a Legislature that has been largely receptive to the industry’s message that more regulation is unnecessary and will only kill jobs and economic growth.
“It’s the only substantial [frac sand] standard left this session,’’ said John Lenczewski, executive director of Minnesota Trout Unlimited.
“Everything else is just fluff,’’ said Amy Nelson, a frac sand opponent from the Red Wing area. The trout stream language, which could face a critical vote on the Senate floor as early as Thursday, has been painted by opponents as a de-facto mining ban in southeastern Minnesota. Industry supporters also say the measure is a “slippery slope’’ that could potentially hurt taconite mining on the Iron Range and even the construction aggregate business.
Another factor that the article doesn't take up is that few of the state's major environmental groups issued public
policy statements or provided testimony on the proposed legislation.
With the exception of Trout Unlimited and Land Stewardship Project, the
citizens were largely on their own. (It will be curious to see which groups that stood silent will use this issue for fundraising--we'll let you know).
Kennedy reports that the governor will meet with industry reps today to push for the pro-trout legislation:
But Dayton told reporters Wednesday that he is cautiously optimistic the legislation will move forward.
“I strongly support that position and will do everything I can in conference committee to get it enacted,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, the governor scheduled a private meeting for Thursday with industry representatives, labor leaders and the commissioners of the Department of Natural Resources, Pollution Control Agency and Department of Health.
Bluestem hopes that he'll succeed in swaying the legislature where thousands of concerned citizens have failed. Praise goes to freshman senator Matt Schmit for listening to his constituents, unlike Winona area senator Jeremy Miller, who cast a deciding committee vote to kill Schmit's trout stream protection.
Photo: On Tuesday, St. Mary's prof Jane Cowgill, who favors Schmit's bill, held up a "fishstick." The legislature favors Mrs. Paul's over Southeastern Minnesota's trout. Photo by John Kaul.
If you appreciate reading posts on Bluestem Prairie, consider making a donation via paypal:
Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, Caitlin Pawlowski came to Detroit Lakes to vacation at Fair Hills Resort every summer. After graduating from Ohio State University in 2007 with a degree in finance, Pawlowski spent a year working in New Jersey.
Then, in 2009, she was offered a job at Fair Hills.
"I jumped at the chance to move to Minnesota," Pawlowski, the resort'sHuman Resources/Front Desk Manager, wrote in an email interview. "I love the lakes country and
moving here was a dream come true. The life we have built in Detroit
Lakes is a dream come true."
"Minnesota is my home," she added, noting that she appreciates Minnesota values like "family, love, acceptance and freedom."
She lives with her fiance and two dogs in Detroit Lakes. In many ways, the couple represents the "talented individuals who will be coming here and sharing their gifts in the workforce," that Norwegian bachelor farmer and fellow House District 4B voter Daniel Anderson believes will find marriage equality a draw for the state.
One cloud darkens the sunny skies of her good life in Minnesota: the inability to marry the love of her life, her fiance. "Why can I not commit my life to another woman and enjoy the same
marriage benefits that my fellow heterosexual citizens enjoy?" she asks. "I didn't
choose to love my fiancé, my love for her developed without a choice."
Pawlowski believes that the freedom to marry the person she loves is a basic human right. "Marriage and the benefits of marriage is a basic human right that should
not be denied to anyone. Marriage is a commitment that should be not
withheld from anyone. Love and commitment between any two people at its
basis is the same among all couples regardless of gender," she said. "Marriage equality is important because love is blind and cannot be stopped."
The 27-year-old transplant thinks that her state representative, Paul Marquart (DFL-Dilworth) should vote to move HF1054,the Clark marriage equality bill, forward when it is heard in the House Ways and Means Committee today, and to vote yes when the bill is brought to the floor of the Minnesota House.
"Passing this bill will strengthen Minnesota's right to be called a great
state," she wrote. "It will show the nation that Minnesota is on the front line of
changing history. It will show that Minnesota is not afraid to do the
right thing. Minnesota will be a state filled with free, happy and
open-minded citizens."
"Our nation was built upon freedom for all," she added. "By not passing the bill,
only some have marriage freedom while others do not. To vote no is to
deny freedom for all. Why not? I cannot come up with a negative
outcome to passing this bill."
If Pawlowski had a chance to sit down with opponents of the bill, she'd start by listening to their explanations for their resistance to allowing her to marry the woman she loves. "I would be respectful and listen," she wrote. "I would share my story. I would
ask how love between two people can be discriminated against. I would
ask how marriage equality could be threatening."
"We lead a normal, common, boring, non-threatening life," she notes. "Why can I not
legally marry her and call her my wife and share all the benefits?"
Photo: Caitlin Pawlowski, her fiance G., and one of their two dogs, enjoying the good life in Minnesota's lake country.
This original story is underwritten by a sponsorship by Minnesotans United for All Families.
In a recent radio interview broadcast by KDIO, Ortonville mayor Steve Berkner inveighed against "intimidation tactics" that had supposedly by used by "special interest" opponents of the Strata Mining Corporation's plan to open a granite quarry in a cow pasture that contains some of Big Stone County's namesake granite outcroppings.
Those tactics? "Busing in" people, carrying signs, chanting, swearing, pounding on tables, grandstanding. For this, Berkner cautions that the city attorney and Ortonville police have been ordered to prevent "intimidation" at the next hearing about Stata, on May 7. Berkner encouraged citizens to submit written remarks, since apparently speaking in public at hearings can be confrontational.
Now, Bluestem attended a number of the zoning and county board hearings on the matter last year, and doesn't remember seeing anyone being "bused in." As for the signs, those carrying them in February 2012 did sing on their way from the Land Stewardship Project's office in Clinton to a zoning meeting about a block and a half away, but set them outside before entering the hearing.
Law enforcement officials were present at that meeting and others, but that's not unusual for large public meetings. Berkner was accusing outside "special interests" (apparently Land Stewardship Project, which maintains a local foods program in Western Minnesota and Clean Up the River Environment, an Upper Minnesota River Valley watershed restoration group based in Montevideo, MN) of using "intimidation tactics," although he doesn't name names.
Since the singing sign carriers and those speaking at the meetings all seemed rather decorous, Bluestem contacted Big Stone County Sheriff John Haukos to see if his department had received complaints or reports of bad behavior. After reviewing his records, Haukos returned our call. No complaints or reports had been filed, although the presence of deputies at meetings were duly recorded.
Indeed, Sheriff Haukos, who had attended many of the meetings, thought that they could be models of public discussion of an issue. He had not observed swearing, pounding of fists, or any such behavior that could be charactized as "intimidation," although he did watch one confrontational exchange after a zoning meeting in Clinton between a citizen and a county commissioner. He determined that the exchange wasn't going to escalate and moved on.
Since Bluestem was there, we too observed that verbal jousting between Dakota scholar Waziyata Win, who lives in the Yellow Medicine Dakota community near Granite Falls and Big Stone County Commissioner Brent Olson. In light of Minnesota history, Bluestem hesitates to call her or the two other Dakota scholars from Marshall and South Dakota who spoke at another meeting "outsiders," however outspoken Waz might be.
Clinton resident Rebecca Terk dropped by both the Ortonville Police department and Big Stone Sheriff's office with the same question. She was told that no complaints or reports of intimidation had been made to either office during the 2012 hearing process.
It's curious that the mayor is inclined to declare opposition to a project by a North Dakota corporation to somehow be a product of "outside special interests," when signs objecting to the annexation of the pasture--since the local township where it had been situated originally enacted a moratorium on the development after residents objected--still grace lawns in his fair community. (To circumvent the township moratorium, the landowner divided his property among relatives, who petitioned to become part of the City of Ortonville; an MPR report here includes remarks by Berkner. An OAH judge ruled that only one parcel could be annexed.).
Also curious in the interview: the host's declaration that if one side doesn't want to speak about a controversy, it's best not to cover an issue at all. Bluestem was under the impression that journalistic convention held that one reported that folks were given an opportunity to present their side, but declined comment.
Indeed, the edited remarks below are characterized by a barely contained hostility toward those who might object to Strata's designs--while insisting that the public has the right to make "respectful" comments. His bar for "respectful" appears to be quite high--with no singing or signs allowed. Indeed, if only people could just write their comments down. That would be so much nicer. Want to speak up in Ortonville? Better meet Mayor Berkner's guidelines for form, presentation and content.
And if Strata Corporation decides to never comment to the press, why the nice respectful radio lady simply wouldn't have to report on anything that happens at all.
Here's the selected audio about the idea of order in Ortonville, drawn from a longer 20-minute interview.. Short fades mark the edits and photo is of Berkner, then a city council member, at a public information hearing held in Ortonville by the Ortonville Township board of supervisors.
Photo: Signs wait outside a Big Stone County planning and zoning board hearing in Clinton, Minnesota in February 2012. Ortonville Mayor Steve Berkner has labeled these signs an "intimidation tactic." Bluestem doesn't find the message "Outcrops Mean Tourism $" to be all that scary, but perhaps the mayor has a much different comfort zone than Bluestem and local law enforcement. (Photo by Rebecca Terk) Below: an anti-annexation sign in an Ortonville lawn last fall.
If you enjoy reading posts like this on Bluestem Prairie, consider throwing some coin in the tip jar:
The chief refrain repeated by the sorrowful violins of the lobbyists for Minnesota's sand mining industry and its allies is that if the state legislator puts additional safeguards in place for our water and communities, the industry will fail to thrive in Minnesota as it has in Wisconsin.
We'll miss out on the new energy revolution.
A story broadcast Monday by Wisconsin Public Radio about a Preferred Sands mine in Trempealeau County near Blair suggests that there may be worse fates than starting the revolution without us--or dead trout.
.. . Last May, however, a heavy rainstorm liquefied one of the site's
waste piles, sending it crashing through an Amish home. DNR Enforcement
Specialist Deb Dix says their suggestions were ignored.
“With
this particular instance it was apparent that there were no best
management practices around this sand pile to attempt to hold it back if
rain was to occur.”
Dix
says the DNR referred Preferred Sands to the Department of Justice for
prosecution. Even then, she says the company continued to allow runoff
to leave the property. Trempealeau County conservationist Kevin Lien
says frac sand companies can afford to ignore the rules.
“So,
we’ve learned that citations are pretty much ineffective for this
industry. This industry has very deep pockets and a wealth of
resources.”
The DNR’s Deb Dix says more than a year later, Preferred Sands still hasn’t fixed the leaking sediment.
“At
this point in time we’re again having some runoff issues due to open
areas [and] unvegetated open soils, where the soils are being carried
offsite from the frequent rains and the snowmelt.”
Preferred
Sands didn't agree to an interview for this story. They emailed a
statement saying they've resolved some of the issues, but remaining
problems are exacerbated by the spring thaw.
Here's what people who visit Preferred Sands of Minnesota's web page read (and it's easy to understand why the less-than-curious members of the Minnesota Legislature might think that everything is totally copaceptic in this industry). Pay no attention Trempealeau County--and for pete's sake, don't worry about Southeast Minnesota's water or trout:
Maintain & Sustain.
Preferred Sands of Minnesota is dedicated to maintaining and sustaining, and when it comes to that, we’ll let our employees do the speaking for us:
“...Sand saved my farm. Excavating the sand deposits on my farm has allowed me to keep my land and home. I’ve been able to buy back the dairy cows I once had to sell off, who again graze on the hills that have been restored because of environmentally sound mine reclamation projects. When you choose to support the local sand industry, you are supporting the economic future of Western Wisconsin.” — Sam LaGesse
With locations in Woodbury, MN, and Bloomer, WI, Preferred Sands of Minnesota provides the much sought-after Jordan and Northern white frac sand.
Our Woodbury and Bloomer facilities have in excess of 40 million tons of high quality Northern White silica sand, and have the capacity to produce approximately 500,000 tons annually of our natural sand.
Our white sand deposits are strategically located near major forms of rail transportation: Union Pacific, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, Canadian National, and Canadian Pacific. Preferred Sands of Minnesota is unit train accessible and has convenient barge access along the Mississippi River, providing service to the Southern Mississippi and into Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Improving Best Practices
Preferred Sands of Minnesota is teamed up with the town of Cooks Valley and the town of Auburn to fund local recycling programs and we are actively involved in a 5-year Chippewa County, WI DNR ground water modeling program implemented to track any potential environmental impacts and gather data to advance best practices for mining and production.
The Wisconsin Chapter of Trout Unlimited
has not made any official statements on frac sand mining but has worked
behind the scenes. Duke Welter, who represents Trout Unlimited in
Wisconsin and the Midwest, says they are participating in a Chippewa
County study on sand mining's effects on groundwater and trout stream
levels.
He says they have also suggested a state run study of the industry’s environmental impacts.
“So
far I haven’t heard [a] positive response from most of the legislators
that I’ve talked to because they think that existing tools are just
fine, or they think it’s not important enough to try and put that effort
together.”
Welter says Trout Unlimited will
continue to advocate for scientific study of frac sand mining to better
inform policy and regulations.
No wonder Preferred Sands of Minnesota's webpage is talking about Chippewa County and not that other place. (In Wisconsin, Senator Vinehout is an exception with regard to the sand mining industry).
Is this the model pro-mining Minnesota legislators are touting? Really? For more information on language making its way in the Minnesota legislature that would protect water and trout streams in Minnesota's driftless region, please see our post from earlier this week, Frac sand mining: trout stream protection language to face test in key senate committee.
Photo: Sandslide in Trempealeau County. Credit: Wisconsin DNR (top); Preferred Sands of Minnesota's webpage. There's a lot more text there than for the new operation in Blair, where run-off continues to be an issue.
If you enjoy reading posts like these on Bluestem Prairie, consider throwing some coin in the tip jar:
The Land Stewardship Project has sent out an action alert about the next step facing language in Senate File 796 protecting southeast Minnesota trout streams from frac sand mining and processing. LSP has been working with Trout Unlimited to carry the water for the prized game fish in southeastern Minnesota.
The bill may be heard in the Senate Environment Finance Committeeas early as Wednesday, April 24.
SF 796 is the Omnibus Game and Fish Policy Bill and Sen. Schmit is
the author. The provisions in the bill say that in southeast Minnesota:
• No frac sand mining is allowed within a mile of any spring, groundwater seepage area, fen, designated trout stream, class 2a water or any tributary of class 2a water or designate trout stream.
• The DNR cannot issue groundwater appropriation permits for frac sand-related activity, including frac sand processing.
• Mining frac sand within 25 feet of the water table is prohibited.
The bill applies these provisions in an area defined by the DNR as
the Paleozoic Plateau (222) Ecological Section. This area generally
encompasses Minnesota's five southeast counties. A detailed map is on
the DNR’s website HERE.
These provisions protecting trout streams would help dramatically in
limiting the harm frac sand mining can do in southeast Minnesota and
would go into effect immediately. As reported in a Rochester Post-Bulletin
article, Gov. Mark Dayton has weighed in against supporting a
moratorium at this time. Without a moratorium, we need standards in
place NOW before any more frac sand mines or processing facilities are
established in southeast Minnesota. The provisions in Senate File 796
are a good step in that direction.
LSP and Trout Unlimited provide recommended action steps. Check them out here and act.
Photo: A trout caught in a Southeastern Minnesota trout stream.
If you appreciate reading posts on Bluestem Prairie, consider making a donation via paypal:
Kaul is lobbying for Save the Bluffs, a grassroots citizens frac sand activism group in the Red Wing area. He's put together a video update. Representative Rick Hansen--whose sand mining bills do not include the one-year moratorium and Generic Environmental Impact Statement the group advocates--talks about the issue in the second part of the video.
While Save the Bluff differs with Hansen in those key elements, they--like the frac sand mining industry--appreciate the work Hansen is doing on this issue. While not a show horse, there's no one who plows forward more diligently on soil, water and natural resource issues as the South St. Paul (and SE Minnesota native) as Hansen.
If you appreciate reading posts on Bluestem Prairie, consider making a donation via paypal:
LSP "sand lady" on Minnesota Public Radio's Daily Circuit Monday 3/25, 9:06 a.m.
MPR's Daily Circuit outlines issues related to industrial sand mining in Debate continues on frac sand mining's health, environmental impact, but if you want to get the good stuff, tune in to MPR at 9:06 a.m. on Monday, March 25 to listen to Land Stewardship policy organizer Johanna Rupprecht talk about frac sand.
"You
can farm the same land over and over but once you mine it, it's gone," a
Wisconsin woman told filmmaker Jim Tittle. Born and raised on a farm
that's been in her family for generations, she represents one of the
positions explored in his documentary, The Price of Sand, which
focuses on Wisconsin conflict over silica mines, small towns and money —
a conflict now playing out in southeastern Minnesota and in the
Minnesota legislature.
The Price of Sand, an
independently produced documentary examining the human and environmental
costs of silica (frac) sand mining, was shown at an advance screening
in Red Wing, Minnesota on March 22. The film, which offers a broad
overview of some of the tough issues facing rural communities threatened
by mining in the Upper Midwest, played to a packed audience at the
Sheldon Theatre.
The Price of Sand will be screened in St. Paul
on March 28, 7:00 p.m. at the Grandview Theater. A Q & A session
with film director, Jim Tittle is scheduled after the screening. The
documentary was selected for the MSP Film Festival in April and more
screenings along with a DVD release will be coming soon. For more
information about The Price of Sand, go to www.thepriceofsand.com.
Jim
Tittle, the film's director, spoke at a Q & A session afterwards
along with Minnesota State Senator Matt Schmit (DFL, Red Wing), and Jody
McIlrath, representative for Save the Bluffs, a grass-roots
organization based in Red Wing, Minnesota.
Tittle, a videographer by profession, started working on The Price of Sand
two years ago after learning that an oil company had purchased land
close to his mother's home in Hay Creek Township, south of Red Wing,
Minnesota. Initially puzzled by the deal, Tittle soon discovered the
company wasn't interested in oil but in silica (frac) sand, a commodity
widely used by the oil and gas industry for the hydraulic-fracturing (or
fracking) of shale and found in abundance in the blufflands of western
Wisconsin, southeastern Minnesota, and northeastern Iowa. Concerned
about what this might hold for the future of his hometown, Tittle began
digging deeper into the subject and produced a series of YouTube videos
featuring interviews with people living next door to mining operations
across the river in western Wisconsin. These interviews became the
foundation for his film.
Tittle carefully builds an argument against the sudden industrialization of small, close-knit agricultural communities in The Price of Sand.
Over the course of the documentary, we meet the beleaguered residents
of New Auburn, Knapp, Alma, McGregor, Maiden Rock, and Chippewa Falls.
In the tiny village of Tunnel City, Wisconsin, the Connecticut-based,
multi-national corporation, Unimin is constructing a 500-acre, open pit
sand mine. One of its neighbors, an unfortunate woman who lives with her
young family directly across the street from the mine, tells us it will
operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week and there's nothing she can
do about it. Like so many people Tittle interviewed in Wisconsin, she
feels not only helpless but abandoned by public officials who would
prefer to look the other way rather than challenge the status quo and
restrict mining activities through zoning. Another unhappy resident sums
the dilemma up nicely saying, "we place a high value on our freedom and
these companies take advantage of that."
Beautifully shot and edited, The Price of Sand
presents a cautionary tale for Minnesotans currently debating the issue
of whether to regulate mining at the state and local level. The film
begins and ends with a long sequence of aerial shots revealing
wide-spread devastation caused by open pit mining. Throughout the
documentary, one person after another speaks out on such difficult and
thorny topics as the influence of big money on local politics; economic
hardship and the promise of jobs; gag orders and media buzz; and the
inevitable conflicts that arise when corporate interests compete for an
unfair share of the pie in rural communities vulnerable to exploitation –
all topics relevant for a discussion of Tittle's leading question: What
is the true price of sand?
During the Q & A session after
the screening, Senator Matt Schmit (DFL, Red Wing) announced that a bill
he recently introduced in the Minnesota state legislature calling for
more stringent controls on silica sand mining had passed committee
deadlines and would be brought before the Minnesota House and Senate for
further discussion. When asked if he backed Governor Mark Dayton's
stated opposition to a proposed moratorium on mining, Schmit said he
would continue to push for a one-year moratorium and supports an
extension of a rule permitting the Environmental Quality Board to
continue studying the issues.
Carol Inderieden is a writer and photographer from the Twin Cities area living in western Wisconsin.
This post was original published at the Twin Cities Daily Planet; published with permission via our content exchange agreement.
Governor Mark Dayton may have come out against a one-year moratorium on industrial sand mining while a Generic Environmental Impact Statement is conducted, but a story by Stephanie Hemphill at Minnesota Public Radio illustrates why grassroots citizen groups in Southeastern Minnesota are asking for both.
. . .The EQB is a multi-agency oversight
body that received a petition to do an in-depth study of the possible
environmental effects of frac sand mining. . . .
That kind of study would take
several years and cost a lot of money. In the meantime, the agency has
produced a 90-page report that summarizes the issues.
So far the questions outnumber the
answers regarding possible impacts on the environment, the economy and
local communities, said EQB planner Jeff Smyser.
One of those questions involves a very scary thing: sinkholes. Probably not Florida-scale sinkholes--and the water quality concerns that are related to sinkhole-producing karst geology are a whole lot more vexsome:
The report includes . . .maps of
southeastern Minnesota's unusual geology, known as karst geology, where
rich deposits of silica sand are found. That makes it tricky to predict
underground water flows, Smyser said. The limestone bedrock easily
creates sinkholes and causes unpredictable groundwater flows.
"It's kind of difficult to know
where the water's going to go, just what effects use of groundwater,
discharge of processing water is going to have because of that karst
geology out there," he said. "So that's a real tricky question that's
real hard to answer at this point."
A number of silica-sand related bills are working their way through the Minnesota legislature. Senator Matt Schmit's SF786 provides for a GEIS and a one-year moratorium; Schmit has also introduced a bill that creates setbacks to protect fish and sensitive natural areas in the driftless region. Rep. Hansen's HF906 creates standard and a technical assistance team team to help local government regulate sand mining; he also has a bill to protect wellheads and natural areas in the region.
While bills related to regulating the frac sand industry make their way through the Minnesota state legislature, sand mining continues to generate headlines in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
With Republicans Denny McNamara (R-Hastings) and Tim Kelly (R-Red Wing) signed on as sponsors--and most objections (other than having a bill at all) from the silica sand industry overcome, the Rick Hansen (DFL-South St. Paul) bill retains its basic shape: technical assistance for local government in permitting and monitoring under the aegis of the Environmental Quality Board (EQB) but no Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) or one-year moratorium.
Listen to the action at the end of the audio here. SF1018, introduced by Senator Matt Schmit (DFL-Red Wing), is the senate companion bill.
Minnesota Public Radio's Stephanie Hemphill reported on the bills' earlier progress in Frac sand mining bill clears another hurdle. The Schmit bill was heard in committee but audio has yet to be posted.
Permits move ahead in Fillmore and Winona Counties
A quarry southeast of Lanesboro that has
been extracting silica sand since 2008 with little notice is asking to
expand from 18.6 acres to 50 acres.
Reilly Construction Co., of Ossian, Iowa, which operates the mine
on the land of Sandra and John Rein near the unincorporated town of
Highland, submitted an environmental assessment worksheet on Jan. 10.
The public comment period has ended, and Fillmore County is responding
to questions and comments, said Zoning Administrator Chris Graves. About
a dozen people or governmental agencies commented on the document.
It's possible the EAW will come before the county
board at the end of this month or in early April, he said. If it finds
the worksheet meets requirements, the board can approve it and the
quarry can apply for a conditional use permit that would allow the
expansion.
While similar mines that were proposed for south of St. Charles brought
heavy criticism and comment, the Rein mine has been operating without
problems, he said. "They have been a really good mine," he said. . . .
The comments on the Rein proposal centered around many of the same
concerns as those commenting on the Saratoga proposals — traffic,
health, water pollution and noise.
The Rein worksheet also had comments from people who
feared damage to two trout streams — Nepstad and Gribben — because their
headwaters are around Highland.
That's not quite the situation in Winona County, where the small scale of a 20-acre site that will be worked out in three years is meeting little resistance. The Winona Daily News' Jerome Christenson reports in Commission: EIS not required for Nisbit mine:
If the county board’s willing and the state doesn’t intervene, Winona
County’s first new frac sand mine could go into operation this spring.
On
a 5-3 vote, the Winona County Planning Commission recommended that the
county board not require an Environmental Impact Statement for the
proposed Nisbit mine.
Mine operator Tom Rowekamp said he was
pleased with the vote. “We know people have concerns,” he said, “We’ve
done our best to address them. I don’t know what else we could do.”
The
proposed 20-acre mine site is located in Saratoga Township outside
Utica on land owned by David and Sherry Nisbit. The site lies on the
north side of Gethje Lane, a dead-end private road. Current plans call
for about 200,000 tons of sand to be removed each year for about three
years, at which time the commercially available sand is expected to be
exhausted. The mined area will be recovered with topsoil and planted to
native prairie. . . .
. . .Three fourths of the dozen or so who spoke at the public hearing favored
requiring an EIS for the mine, citing concerns about dust, water
quality and increased truck traffic. . . .
Commissioner Jim Hegland said he lived about a mile and a half from the
mine site and shared the concerns of the speakers, but “there’s only so
much research we can do before we have to do something.” He said the
Nisbit mine’s small size and limited prospective lifetime make it a good
test case for silica mine regulations in the county.
Much of the opposition to other proposed projects centers either on their massive scale--as in the moribund proposal for a mammoth processing and mining complex in St. Charles--or their location near homes, schools or sensitive natural areas, along with unanswered questions about the industry's impact.
With Gov. Scott Walker’s new budget including assistance for the sand mining industry, a controversial frac sand operation near the Lower Wisconsin River is moving closer to approval.
The town of Bridgeport Planning Commission has OK’d a conditional use permit for Pattison Sand Co. of Clayton, Iowa, to locate a mine near the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway, setting up a final vote by the Town Board on March 27.
Mine opponents packed the Bridgeport Town Hall for the commission meeting last week but were given little opportunity to speak during the three-hour hearing, according to reports. . . .
“It’s supposed to be ‘For the People and By the People’ but that didn’t happen,” Arnie Steele of Bridgeport Concerned Citizens told the Courier Press in Prairie du Chien.
The group says it will consider legal action but Bridgeport attorney Todd Infield had advised the commission that it couldn’t deny a permit simply based on citizen opposition. Timing may be an issue as well for the town of Bridgeport, with elections scheduled for April 2. The town chairman and two supervisors are facing challenges from mining opponents.
The Riverway Board has urged Pattison to withdraw its application,
saying that while the project might meet the letter of the law, the mine
would detract from the scenic area and potentially conflict with the
federal Highway Beautification Act of 1965.
Last
month, the company was cited by the state Department of Natural
Resources for violating its air pollution permit at a facility in
Prairie du Chien where processed sand is transferred from trucks to rail
cars. Pattison says it is taking steps to address those problems and
has not been fined
The Rochester Post Bulletin reports in Dayton not ready to impose statewide ban on silica sand mining that the governor isn't siding with citizen demands for a one-year moratorium while a statewide Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) is conducted.
Instead, he murmurs sweet sentiments about grassroots citizen opposition to the mammoth St. Charles project. Rural Minnesotans are so cute when we're mad.
PB political reporter Heather Carlson writes:
FL Gov. Mark Dayton said Tuesday he does
not support a statewide moratorium on silica sand mining at this time
but does back tougher regulations.
"If the industry starts to spiral out of control, then I wouldn't
hesitate to call for a moratorium. But I don't think we've reached that
point," he said.
The governor also praised St. Charles officials for their recent
decision not to move ahead with a silica-sand processing and
transportation project.
"The actions the citizens of St. Charles took are
really courageous and compelling," he said, "and it says to the
Legislature that there are a lot of people in that area affected by this
who are very concerned."
Courageous, compelling--and not on the legislative priority lists of most of the state's NGO environmental groups, regardless of how many people mobilize regionally on this issue. That should help out the industry dismiss those grassroots citizens' concerns.
Perhaps Dayton could signal which "tougher regulations" he wants--after all, he was able to write a new sand tax into his budget.
Meanwhile, the industrial sand corporations were crying poor mouth at the hearing for the proposed tax. Carlson reports:
The silica sand mining industry is fiercely opposed to a moratorium,
arguing that companies already spend millions of dollars on required
environmental reviews. Mine owners are also upset at the idea of
additional taxes. On Tuesday, the House Taxes Committee held a hearing
on a bill sponsored by Hansen to impose a $1 per ton tax on the
extraction of silica sand. The bill would also allow counties to impose
an aggregate tax of up to 30 cents per ton of material and add a tax on
the processing of silica sand equal to 3 percent of the sand's market
value. Money raised from the tax would be used to help cover
transportation costs related to mining, acquire land to protect
environmentally sensitive areas from mining and acquire permanent
easements to protect drinking water.
Mike Wallenius, vice president of operations for
Unimin, told committee members the legislation would increase the
Mankato mining company's taxes anywhere from $16 million to $27 million
per year.
. . . House Taxes Committee member Greg Davids, R-Preston,
said this level of taxation would serve as a de facto moratorium by
"pricing folks out of the market."
Hansen emphasized that the bill is not aimed at
stopping silica sand mining in the state. Instead, it is geared towards
protecting residents.
"I don't want to have something happen where we have a
mine and all of a sudden we have a town that has run out of drinking
water because we have impacted the wellhead drinking area," he said.
Hansen's not aiming for a stealth moratorium--and he doesn't support a statewide GEIS. We'd talked one-on-one about the issue last November at the Minnesota Farmers Union convention, and he'd shared the concepts that have worked their way into his bills.
The bill was laid on the table for future consideration as part of a larger tax bill.
What lesson from Wisconsin and Minnesota rules?
A Minnesota Public Radio report from Elizabeth Dunbar, How Minnesota and Wisconsin's frac sand mining rules differ, is likely to be cited by pro-Walker and pro-industry sources as proof that we need to leave this poor little profitable industry alone, but the details suggest that the concerns of the courageous peasants of St. Charles are well-grounded:
Reclamation: Reclamation is
the plan a mining company makes with the government to shut down the
mine and reclaim the land for another use. Wisconsin state law requires
all mining companies to have a plan ahead of time and to provide
financial assurance in case the company goes belly up. Minnesota has no
state law requiring reclamation plans, but many local governments
require it.
State Resources: Wisconsin's
Department of Natural Resources has had a designated point-person for
frac sand mining since August 2011. Sand mining companies can field
questions and permit requests through that staff person. Minnesota has
no designated sand mining staff, and companies must fulfill permit
requirements through two different state agencies: the Minnesota
Department of Natural Resources and the Minnesota Pollution Control
Agency.
Inspections: Neither state
has designated inspectors to monitor the silica sand mining industry.
State inspections of air, water and other permits are done periodically
across industries.
Reclamation, state resources and inspection are issues citizens have raised locally and at the state capitol--while mining companies push the notion that they can monitor themselves.
Dunbar notes that the two states have much different use levels for triggering a water use permit:
Water Appropriation: Silica sand processing uses a lot of water.
Mines in both states must have water appropriation permits if they plan
on pumping more than a certain number of gallons. The volume of water
that triggers the permit requirement is different in each state:
Minnesota requires the permit for pumping more than 10,000 gallons/day,
and Wisconsin requires it for pumping 70 gallons/minute. (If you pump
water at 70 gallons/minute over a 24-hour period it calculates out to
about 100,800 gallons.
Readers are left to connect another dot on their own with that one. Minnesota's water use has been much in the news of late--and those water permit inspections frequently show that users exceed permit levels.
At a time when drought threatens state water supplies, scores of
water permit holders in Minnesota are illegally using billions of
gallons more water then they're entitled to.
Over the last six years, hundreds of
individuals, businesses and even state government agencies have pumped
more than their permit allows, according to state Department of Natural
Resources records. But violators face few consequences for these
misdemeanor violations. Even in a two-year drought, DNR officials admit
they don't spend much time enforcing permit limits.
Steil points out that the DNR's resources are focused on processing new permits and discovering unpermited wells, rather than enforcement.
In the world of bureaucracy, inspection and enforcement are two different creatures, and so a cautionary lesson emerges from recent coverage of the industry in Wisconsin, Frac sand industry faces DNR violations, warnings.
The much-cited report notes:
Usually, [Air Program officer Marty] Sellers said, the DNR expects 90 percent of companies in a
regulated industry to comply with rules on their own. But in his visits
to a dozen frac sand facilities, Sellers encountered the opposite
pattern, and he sent letters of noncompliance to 80 to 90 percent of the
sites.
DNR compliance officials acknowledged they have been stretched thin
monitoring the sand industry, which has grown from a handful of sites
five years ago to more than 100 permitted mining, processing or
transport facilities today.
. . . Gov. Scott Walker has proposed two new DNR positions in his budget to monitor the sand industry, by shifting $223,000 from other parts of the budget.
Bluestem was pretty curious about that anecdote and we've put in a public documents request for Sellers' letters of noncompliance. In talking to Sellers and his supervisors, we've learned that since the state of Wisconsin assigns Air Program staff by region rather than industry--and all of the frac industry is in Sellers' region, he's the only staffer visiting the industry.
The two new positions will help with permitting and compliance--while (if we read Walker's budget correctly) the "other parts of the budget" seem to two enforcement positions.
As the lackadaisical enforcement of the state's water permits suggest, Minnesota must think through not only permitting and compliance issues, but enforcement as well. Hansen's silica tax provides for funding to repair roads and to fund preventative measures to protect wellheads and acquire sensitive natural areas.
All are laudable goals--and given the return on this industry (all poor mouthing aside), it's not unreasonable to ask an extractive industry to pay for the consequences of its activity. What the silica sand tax bill doesn't fund are inspections and enforcement.
Photo: Aerial view of a Wisconsin silica sand mine. Photo by Jim Tittle. Used with permission.
If you appreciate reading posts on Bluestem Prairie, consider making a donation via paypal:
Hansen shared news of Kelly's approval as the Minnesota House Government
Operations committee heard the amended bill on Friday, March 15.
In the amended bill, the Environmental Quality Board (EQB) retains responsibility for drawing up standards and selecting a seven-member technical assistance team for local government. Drawn largely from state agency personnel, the
team will become involved in projects when local government requests the
help. Making the request voluntary had been a sticking point in earlier iterations of the language.
Plans created by the team will not require review by the EQB.
Also added: a EQB-maintained reference library of local permits and
ordinances and the development of an air
quality health advisory for silica sand by January 1, 2014.
The bill now heads to the House Environment, Natural Resources
and Agriculture Finance Committee, chaired by environmental champion
Rep. Jean Wagenius (DFL-Minneapolis).
Rep. Phyllis Kahn (DFL-Minneapolis) has also added her name as co-sponsor.
In Friday's Politics in Minnesota article, Sand in the gears, staff writer Charley Shaw took a closer look at the politics of the various house and senate bills. He reports:
. . .The frac sand issue illustrates the ingrained power struggle among DFL
committee chairs with respect to the demands of environment and
industry. The third prong of the power struggle is Gov. Mark Dayton,
whose views on frac sand mining remain a mystery at this point. Dayton
signaled his awareness of the issue before the session began when he
told reporters that frac sand mining would be a “huge” issue. And on
Thursday he sent another signal that he’s tuned into frac sand mining,
releasing a revised budget that includes $1.9 million to pay for a team
of six state agencies and boards that would provide technical assistance
to local units of government related to silica sand mining. The funding
would be supported by new fees on the extraction and processing of
silica sand. . . .
Groundwater, sand mining and sinkholes
In other news, Pioneer Press outdoors columnist Dave Orrick links the paper's ongoing investigation into troubling groundwater use to potential demand on aquifers by the industrial sand mining industry. He reports in Sportsmen should pay attention to groundwater issues:
This week, my colleagues and I are writing on
Minnesota groundwater. Aquifers. Water that invisibly flows through
porous (sand), semi-porous (limestone) and surprisingly porous
(fractured shale) layers of underground rock. The stories focus on
public water supplies, conservation at home and whether we're stressing
these subterranean sponges too much. But there are serious impacts for
outdoors lovers and the places we love. . . .
It's also possible that a frac-sand mining
operation that washes sand with well water and then returns that water
to the same ground, could be conserving water and damaging the local
stream trout populations at the same time. In fact, it's possible that
more traditional limestone- and gravel-mining operations could do the
same, said Steve Klotz, the Lanesboro-area fisheries supervisor for the
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
"Some of the proposals out there are throwing around some big
water appropriations," Klotz said. "We've got one that could potentially
impact the big spring that supplies water to our hatchery."
Decades of shoreline protection and restoration projects in
southeast Minnesota deserve credit for the area's outstanding stream
trout fishery. But an essential facet of the trout's ability to
reproduce naturally, as they are doing in most waters, is the constant
temperature -- usually about 48 degrees -- that water flows, year-round,
when it emerges from springs in the limestone bluffs of the Driftless
Area. Browns and brookies aren't fans of wild temperature fluctuations.
Water doesn't take long to get from the surface to aquifers in the
porous earth, but it takes long enough to reach that temperature, either
by cooling in the summer or warming in the winter.
But the area is prone to sinkholes, Klotz explained. Pull too much water out of an aquifer, and it can collapse. . . .
Check out the whole column at the PiPress. It's no wonder Trout Unlimited is paying close attention to the issue--and letters from informed citizens are peppering the region's newspapers.
Reading around Southern Minnesota's newspapers this afternoon, it's clear--from Red Wing and Winona to Mankato--that the promise of legislative relief at the state capitol has not led to a ceasefire in the field.
Red Wing City Council voted 4-1 to accept the resignation letter of Mayor Dennis Egan Monday night.
Egan made no comment as the motion was brought up for discussion. . . .
Read the entire story at the RWRE. Egan resigned, effective April 1, after he was roundly criticized for accepting a position as the executive director of the Minnesota Industrial Sand Council to lobby for the industry. The city has frequently been at odds over mining, and the council has adopted a resolution supporting a statewide Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) and one-year moratorium.
Lately, I've read a slurry of letters that attempt to diminish
the severity of Mayor Dennis Egan’s ethical breech of conduct in
accepting a lobbying position with the Minnesota Industrial Sand
Council. The writers make inflated references to lynch mobs, freedom,
shame, and disrespect. The most absurd is that he took his new position
to simply “feed his family.”
Such exaggerated versions of
Egan’s victimhood and innocence and Egan’s own exploitation of his
political position for personal gain is the real shame here. Red Wing
citizens reacted no differently than the rest of an appalled Minnesota
at the news that our mayor took a job lobbying on behalf of a mining
council whose mission directly conflicts with city ordinances . . .
Winona state Sen. Jeremy Miller introduced legislation this week that
he says will keep frac sand permitting decisions in the hands of local
governments while giving them greater access to state resources.
Miller
is proposing the formation of a Silica Sand Technical Advisory Council,
which would bring together representatives from state agencies like the
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Minnesota Department of Natural
Resources, and the Minnesota Department of Health to provide guidance
for local governments as they navigate permitting, environmental
reviews, and other issues related to the frac sand industry. Rep. Tim
Kelly, a Republican from Red Wing, has introduced companion legislation
in the House, and both measures have gained early bipartisan support. . . .
He did sign on to two bills that match the paper's description, however: SF1258 (chief author Kathy Sheran, DFL-Mankato) and SF1257 (chief author Matt Schmit, DFL-Red Wing). The latter bill, introduced by Schmit, is the companion bill to Kelly's HF1367.
Neither senate bill has received a hearing--while in the House, Rep. Rick Hansen's (DFL-South St. Paul) bill was heard and moved on Wednesday. It places technical assistance and some environmental review in the hands of the EBQ, but doesn't call for an GEIS or a state-wide moratorium on new projects, as we posted in First MN House committee hearing on industrial sand mining sends Hansen's HF906 forward.
Rather, a far different Schmit bill is making its way through the state senate:
Miller isn’t the
only state senator to direct his attention to the issue this session.
Sen. Matt Schmit, DFL-Red Wing, introduced a bill in February calling
for a statewide environmental review of the frac sand industry, the
formation of a regional council to oversee regulation and development,
and enabling the taxation of sand at the local and state levels.
That
bill has passed out of the Senate Environment and Energy Committee and
the State and Local Government Committee, and will be forwarded to the
Senate Finance Committee for further discussion. . . .
The bill that Schmit is shepherding through is favorably received by citizens across sand country, if letter sections are an accurate barometer. Vince Ready writes from St. Charles to the Winona Daily News to ask that the legislature Help protect our rural way of life by passing Schmit's bill.
A unanimous vote from St. Charles' city
council Tuesday night put the Minnesota Proppant silica-sand processing
and transportation project on life support.
All that is needed now is for Winona County to officially pull the plug.
"On behalf of the Concerned Citizens, I thank you for
adopting the resolution," said Travis Lange, spokesman for Concerned
Citizens for St. Charles, a group that has worked to end the frac-sand
project. "It's in the best interest of the city as a whole."
The collapse of a major frac sand proposal in Winona County has
caused a split among investors in the project, with one faction pulling
out in frustration over Minnesota’s anti-frac sand sentiment.
“Me and my partners split up. They went to Wisconsin,”
said Rick Frick, one of two remaining principals in Minnesota Proppant
LLC. “Were they fed up? Yes, that had a lot to do with it.”
Read the rest at the Star Tribune.
Photo: Yes, it's a frac sand train wreck.
If you appreciate reading posts on Bluestem Prairie, consider making a donation via paypal:
Yet another Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) document related to the denial of five petitions for annexation of land to the City of Ortonville in Big Stone County has been made available. Bluestem Prairie posts it below for the public interest.
After residents of the township brought concerns to the board, the township supervisors imposed a moratorium while they wrote zoning and planning ordinances. Big Stone County's commissioners voted to permit the quarry; to get around the moratorium, the landowner divided his property among relatives, then petitioned the City of Ortonville to annex the site.
While the denial and moratorium for the moment prevent the project from going forward, the long-term consequences of the OAH judge's decision are unknown to Bluestem at this time.
Headwaters of the Minnesota River, Big Stone County is on the Minnesota-South Dakota border, directly west of the Twin Cities.
The memorandum begins:
Two issues, scope of review and determination of property ownership, have arisen in the six matters comprising the City of Ortonville's (City) filings for annexation by ordinance under Minn. Stat. 414.033, Subd. 2(3). The factual background includes the ordinances passed by the City, the objection by Ortonville Township (Township), and the requested additional information received from the City and Petitioners.
It concludes:
CONCLUSION
The urban or suburban character of the Subject Area is outside the jurisdiction of the OAH in proceedings under annexation by ordinance. The OAH must determine that the jurisdictional requirements for an annexation by ordinance are met before an ordinance is approved. The OAH cannot conduct a hearing regarding disputes over the propriety of an annexation by ordinance. Where the presented facts show that there is a jurisdictional defect, the ordinance must be denied.
Docket No. A-7829 has been approved as there are no procedural defects present.
Dockets Nos. A-7830, A-7831, A-7832, A-7833, and A-7834 have been denied as the City did not receive petitions for annexation from all of the property owners as required by Minn. Stat. 414.033, subd. 2(3).
After being approached by township residents and landowners concerned
about property values, traffic, noise, water, dust and rare cacti, the
Ortonville Board of Supervisors enacted a moratorium while they wrote
land use ordinances. The moratorium was recently extend for a year.
In response the landowner, who had agreed to let his land be mined,
divided his property into smallers parcels that touched on the city
limits; the relatives then petitioned to have the parcels annexed into
the city.
Only one ruling--a denial--of one of the petitions was posted online last night. Today, Bluestem has received and posted a copy of Assistant Chief Administrative Law Judge Timothy O'Malley's memo about all of the petitions. While that of Gayle Hedge was approved , the rest were denied.
Not beinga lawyer, Bluestem can't say with certainty what this means, but it appears that Ortonville Township still has jurisdiction over the properties where all of the proposed Strata Corporation's rock processing, storage and shipping was to have taken place, while the property where the hole was to be dug is now part of the City of Ortonville.
Since the land that remains in Ortonville Township is subject to a moratorium, the quarry project can't--for the moment--go forward. We don't know what recourse the landowners, the City of Ortonville and Strata Corporation have at this point, but this is a positive development for the many people who sought to preserve the working landscape just outside of town.
Headwaters of the Minnesota River, Big Stone County is on the Minnesota-South Dakota border, directly west of the Twin Cities.
From the memorandum:
The urban or suburban character of the Subject Area is outside the jurisdiction of the OAH in
proceedings under annexation by ordinance. The OAH must determine that the jurisdictional
requirements for an annexation by ordinance are met before an ordinance is approved. The OAH
cannot conduct a hearing regarding disputes over the propriety of an annexation by ordinance.
Where the presented facts show that there is a jurisdictional defect, the ordinance must be denied.
Docket No. A-7829 has been approved as there are no procedural defects present.
Dockets Nos. A-7830, A-7831, A-7832, A-7833, and A-7834 have been denied as the City did
not receive petitions for annexation from all of the property owners as required by Minn. Stat. 5
414.033, subd. 2(3).
Here's a copy of Judge O'Malley's memorandum about his decision:
Former Red Wing resident Jim Tittle received a call from his mother
two years ago that an open-pit frac sand mine was being considered for
the Hay Creek bluffs south of the city.
“It really threw me for a loop,” said Tittle, who remembered the area well from his youth.
The curious Tittle set off with a video camera to research the issue of
frac sand mining. His work culminated into the documentary film “The
Price of Sand,” premiering Friday March 22 at the Sheldon Theatre in Red
Wing.
The documentary film will also be screened at the Grandview Theater, 1830 Grand Avenue, in St. Paul on March 28, 7:00 p.m.
Brun describes the film-making process:
The documentary features interviews with people on both sides of the
frac sand debate, from displaced homeowners to drivers who found work
with mining companies. The goal of the film was to raise awareness of
the human impact of frac sand mining, Tittle said.
“I want people
to see other peoples’ stories,” Tittle said. “Wherever I could find a
person affected by this, I’d go there and talk to them.”
Tittle
first traveled to mines in Le Sueur County and western Wisconsin,
resulting in a series of YouTube videos that garnered more than 10,000
views in the summer of 2011. But he did not stop there.
“I came
to realize I could either make more YouTube videos or explore the issue
deeper,” Tittle said — and explore he did. Over the next 15 months he
would travel the region interviewing people for a full-length
documentary.
Tittle crowdsourced some of the production costs. Read the whole story at the Republican Eagle.
Here's the freshly edited trailer:
Photo: Bird's eye view of a Wisconsin sand mind. Photo by Jim Tittle. Used with permission.
If you appreciate reading posts on Bluestem Prairie, consider making a donation via paypal:
Minnesota River rats are cheering Tuesday night's vote by citizens in Renville County's Sacred Heart Township to adopt a resolution opposing a proposed Off Highway Vehicle county park. The river enthusiasts had feared the project would disturb environmentally sensitive areas and the enjoyment of a remote stretch of the middle corridor of the Minnesota River Valley
Sacred Heart Township residents attending the annual
meeting on Tuesday evening voted 14 to 6 to adopt a resolution opposing
the park.
The resolution rescinds a vote by the board of
supervisors made last year supporting the park. It is proposed to be
developed in the Minnesota River Valley in sections 22 and 23 of the
township.
The resolution states that a majority of residents
oppose the project, are concerned about how it would adversely affect
land values, and charges that neighboring landowners and residents were
not contacted or allowed to voice their concerns in advance of passage
of the resolution last year supporting the park.
Landowners adjacent to the proposed site oppose the project, and they brought the resolution for a vote.
Dave Zaske, one of the affected landowners, said the
resolution will be sent to the Renville County board of commissioners.
He said the county board has said the fate of the park was up to the
township. He is hopeful that this resolution will lead the board to
stop pursuing the project.
The resolution raises the hopes of paddlers and anglers worried about plans to turn their stretch of the river into an ATV destination, with connected trails linking playgrounds for the snarly vehicles--and the use of legacy funds intended for preserving natural areas and water quality to create the recreation area. (Read a draft of a suggested bill--not yet introduced--here).
They fear the recreational use will not only echo down the valley corridor, but the opportunity to "mud" the bluffs will destroy natural habitat and promote erosion. Reducing the sediment load in the Minnesota River is crucial for the quality of downriver areas like Lake Pepin.
Bluestem applauds the decision of the citizens of Sacred Heart Township. One of our fondest memories is stopping on the township road that winds toward the Joseph Brown house ruins to watch a flock of 200 migrating Arctic Swans that paused in the flooded river bottoms. Their calls echoed in the valley, while another flock sang from a flooded field a half mile upstream.
Not likely to happen again if the bluffs echo with the sound of ATVs.
Photo: The ruins of an old barn that would be in the park. Phot by Tom Cherveny/West Central Tribune.
If you appreciate reading posts on Bluestem Prairie, consider making a donation via paypal:
IMPORTANT UPDATE: The Environmental Quality Board (EQB) to act as regulatory government unit for the frac sand EIS for the 11 connected MN Sands mines in Winona Co. See section below on Winona County for more details. [end update]
How far in the bag for the Minnesota Industrial Sand Council is Representative Tim Kelly (R-Red Wing)?
Pretty far, judging by the contrast between the bill he's introduced in the Minnesota House with the reality of a snarl of environmental review woes facing projects across Southern Minnesota.
MDH on Jordan Sands: no coherent strategy for water quality
Lime Township’s next decision on the Jordan Sands silica sand mining
project has been delayed until May after the company asked for 60 extra
days to respond to public comments on an environmental study.
Jordan Sands asked for the delay to thoroughly answer questions about the study, CEO Scott Sustacek said.
“We think we can cover all the comments and questions that came up,” he said.
Oh really? And what might those questions be? Free Press staff writer Dan Linehan reports:
State agencies such as the Department of Health, the Pollution Control
Agency and the Department of Natural Resources joined the public in
submitting comments on the study.
The health department’s 10-page comment focuses on the potential for
groundwater contamination at the site, just north of Mankato. It says
the existing study doesn’t provide enough information regarding water
and chemical use to evaluate its risk on nearby wells. The response also
says the study doesn’t provide enough information to determine whether
the company’s proposal for monitoring wells is sufficient.
“It appears that no coherent strategy has been developed for monitoring
potential water quality impacts at this project,” the document states.
Okay then. No wonder residents in the area are hoping for Senator Matt Schmit's SF786 makes it to Governor Dayton's desk:
Lynn Austin, another 3rd Avenue resident, said he hopes the delay will
give the state time to implement more-stringent environmental standards,
especially on airborne silica sand particles.
One bill in the state Senate would establish a one-year moratorium on silica sand mines.
Winona County: Frac sand mines of three counties unite!
THIS SECTION IS UPDATED AND REVISED: The Winona Post's Sarah Schultz reports in EQB takes control of sand EIS:
The Minnesota Environmental Quality Board (EQB) has issued an order
whereby it will take responsibility for overseeing an environmental
review of 11 frac sand mines in Winona, Fillmore, and Houston counties
proposed by Minnesota Sands. The agency also found that the 11 mine
proposals should be considered "phased actions" and, therefore, must be
evaluated together in the environmental study.
The order and "conclusions of law" issued by the EQB came after
Fillmore and Houston county officials requested that a state agency
oversee the environmental study, rather than one of the three counties
in which the new mines were proposed. In its order, the EQB asserted
that it "has greater expertise in analyzing the potential impacts of the
proposed project than Fillmore, Houston, or Winona counties." . . .
Read the rest at the Winona Post.
Here's a copy of the EBQ's Draft Findings of Fact, Conclusions and Order on Requests to Designate a Different Responsible Governmental Unit for Environmental Review of Multiple Silica Sand Projects Proposed in Fillmore, Houston, and Winona Counties:
Over in Winona, Daily News staff writer Mary Juhl reports in Review of frac sand mines could extend to 3 counties, but as the Winona Post report indicates, the EBQ did not grant the company's wish about the DNR:
The comprehensive environmental review planned for two Winona County frac sand mines may widen to include mines in two neighboring counties.
Minnesota Sands agreed last month to complete an Environmental Impact Statement on the proposed Dabelstein and Yoder mines in Saratoga Township.
The company also plans to operate four mines in Fillmore County and one in Houston County, and has requested that all the mines be reviewed at the same time.
The company wants the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to lead the review process, a recommendation the counties are expected to discuss soon.
The Winona County Board of Commissioners is expected to weigh in today on whether it agrees with the company’s plan or whether it believes a different agency should lead the process.
It’s ultimately to the state’s Environmental Quality Board [EQB] to pick a government unit to oversee the process. Typically a local government will handle an EIS, but since this case involves multiple counties, it’s likely the board will choose a state agency.
Readers should remember that Minnesota Sands got to this place because review by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the Department of Health revealed weaknesses in the company's environmental assessment worksheet (EAW):
Minnesota Sands agreed to the EIS after it came under scrutiny from
state agencies that questioned whether separate and less-intensive
environmental reviews on the mines would be enough. The commissioners of
the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the Minnesota Department of
Health both expressed concern that if the mines were studied separately,
there would be no way of knowing what cumulative effects could arise
from truck traffic, safety, air and water quality and other issues.
As the Winona Post reported, the EQB will act as the regulatory government unit for the 11 connected mines.
The St. Charles City Council is expected to vote today against
annexing township land for a large proposed frac sand processing
facility, which would leave the future of the facility in doubt.
Minnesota
Proppant made it clear more than a year ago that it wanted the proposed
site annexed into city limits so it could use city utilities.
But that’s not likely to happen, St. Charles Mayor Bill Spitzer said Monday.
“At this particular time, I think it’s time to step away,” he said. . . .
. . .Minnesota
Proppant in the past had said the project’s viability depended on the
ability to get city services. But it was unknown Monday whether the
company plans to move forward. Minnesota Proppant spokeswoman Jennifer
Dessner did not return phone calls Monday. She has not returned phone
calls for comment on multiple stories dating back to early this year.
How nice--but since this is an industrial sand mining and processing company, another shoe drops:
The company’s next move, if it chooses to continue pursuing the
facility, would be to seek a conditional-use permit from Winona County.
The county in the past has told St. Charles to take the lead on
permitting the facility, because if it’s approved and then at any point
annexed into the city, the city would have little control over it.
The
St. Charles Township board voted unanimously last year against orderly
annexation, and township officials have said they don’t want a frac sand
processing plant.
The city council has listened an uproar over
the plant dating back to spring 2012 from residents who don’t want the
plant near or within city limits. There have been two petitions
submitted opposing the plant — one with more than 1,000 signatures from
St. Charles residents.
Bluestem's sources tell us that the Winona County board is very friendly toward sand mining--regardless of what citizens and landowners want--so seeking a permit from the county might be a way around overwhelming local opposition.
This issues surrounding three different project underscore why grassroot citizens groups and Land Stewardship Project want a one-year, state-wide Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) to study issues related to sand mining, while a moratorium is in place for new projects.
Moratorium advocates point to the rush to construct large feedlots during the last GEIS, which didn't impose a moratorium.
Kelly: The Representative from MISC
So what's Representative Tim Kelly's response? According a report in the Rochester Post Bulletin, he's listening to the honeyed whispers of disgraced soon-to-be-former Red Wing Mayor, Minnesota Industrial Sand Council (MISC) Dennis Egan.
Picking dollars over duty, Egan resigned as mayor, effective April 1, following scrutiny over the ethical wrinkles created by serving Red Wing and Mammon.
A Red Wing Republican who opposes a
moratorium on silica sand mining is pushing another approach to deal
with concerns about the mining's impact on the region.
Rep. Tim Kelly, R-Red Wing, has introduced a bill
that would create a Silica Sand Technical Advisory Council comprised of
technical experts from four state agencies — the Minnesota Pollution
Control Agency, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Minnesota
Department of Health and Department of Transportation.
Note that those dirty hippies from the EQB are missing from this proposal. Dennis Egan couldn't be more pleased:
Dennis Egan, executive director of the Minnesota Industrial Sand
Council, said his organization favors Kelly's bill. They are strongly
opposed to a moratorium, which he said will unfairly penalize mining
companies across the state that have already sunk millions of dollars
into completing environmental reviews. Instead, it makes sense to have a
technical advisory council where local governments can get answers to
their questions.
"If we can find the dollars and the expertise for the
state agencies to drill down and work in those communities on their
specific issues, we think that is a great way to go," he said.
Land Stewardship Project legislative director Bobby King is not impressed:
But critics argue that the bill's failure to include a moratorium and
a requirement for a statewide Generic Environmental Impact Statement
means it won't adequately protect the public from the possible hazards
of silica sand mining.
"We would say it really falls short of what citizens
and local government officials have asked for the state legislature to
do, and the bill really won't prevent the frac-sand industry from
destroying southeast Minnesota like it has western Wisconsin," said
Bobby King, program organizer with the Land Stewardship Project
Read the whole article at the PB.
Grassroots frac sand mining critics mobilize for Wednesday
Local grassroots activists and Land Stewardship Project aren't stopping with criticism--they're mobilizing once again and heading to the capital for Wednesday's hearings in the Minnesota House. In MN House Holding First Hearing on Frac Sand Issue March 13, LSP urges action, favoring amending a bill introduced by Representative Rick Hansen (DFL-South St. Paul):
MN House to Hold First Hearing on the Issue
House File 906,
authored by Rep. Rick Hansen (DFL-Mendota Heights), will be heard
Wednesday, March 13, in the House Environment Policy Committee. House
File 906 calls for the Environmental Quality Board to develop standards
for frac sand ordinances that can be used by local units of government
and to create a technical assistance team to help local units of
government. We must work to strengthen this bill by making sure it
contains the key elements of Senate File 786.
TAKE ACTION
1. Attend the House Environment
Policy Committee hearing on House File 906 on Wednesday, March 13, at 4
p.m., in Room 200 of the State Office Building. If you want to testify on the bill, contact committee administrator Peter Strohmeier at 651-296-5069 or peter.strohmeier@house.mn. If you plan to attend, please let LSP's Bobby King know at 612-722-6377 or bking@landstewardshipproject.org.
2. Contact members of the House Environment Policy Committee. Every committee member needs to hear how important it is that the Legislature take strong action on this issue during this legislative session. (Check LSP's site for talking points.
We'll let readers know if the hearing is livestreamed.
Photo: A frac sand train wreck in Wisconsin.
If you appreciate reading posts on Bluestem Prairie, consider making a donation via paypal:
The official action follows the sand storm of criticism that swirling after he accepted the job as Executive Director of the Minnesota Industrial Sand Council. Critics felt that Egan couldn't serve two masters in the heart of Minnesota's battleground over the expansion of sand mining.
A preliminary timeline for the special election to replace Egan sets the special election for Tuesday, June 11.
Here's the text of the letter:
To: Lisa Bayley, President Red Wing City Council
Kay Kuhlmann, City Administrator
From: Mayor Dennis P Egan
RE: Resignation April 1, 2013
Red Wing has been home for my family the last 14 years and I have worked hard to ensure Red Wing is viewed as a special place to live, visit, and work. I am proud to serve as Mayor, and take my responsibilities as mayor very seriously.
In the last few weeks, people have expressed concern that I have recently taken work for the Minnesota Industrial Sand Council that may conflict with my duties as Mayor. I am pleased that the city attorney opined via letter that there is not a conflict of interest in my position, and I can continue to serve the city as its mayor.
Yet, I believe that a mayor must live to a higher standard than just avoiding conflicts of interest.
The position of Mayor is one of public service, and if a mayor' s activities serve as a distraction or roadblock for the city, the public is not well- served. The last few weeks have demonstrated that my new position can serve as a distraction to the city and my family, something that I cannot tolerate as Mayor.
Therefore, I will be resigning as Mayor of Red Wing on April 1, 2013. I will work with the City Council to ensure a transition that will not jeopardize the work we need accomplished at City Hall.
After then, I will refocus my time towards my family and growing my small business. I am confident I will stay involved with the Community of Red Wing just in a different capacity.
We should never lose our willingness to maintain the balance of interests, that has made Red Wing a strong city. This city on the working Mississippi River supports jobs, economic opportunity, a strong community and respect for the environment. We must never lose the ability to bring people together to look at facts, share information and make decisions that are in the best interest of our community.
I am honored to have had the opportunity to be the Mayor of Red Wing, and I look forward to continuing to serving this community.
There's a resolution accepting the resignation prepared for the city council's approval on Monday, March 11, 2013:
The resolution:
RESOLUTION NO. 6536
Resolution Accepting Resignation of Mayor and Ordering a Special Election
WHEREAS, Mayor Dennis Egan submitted his resignation from the office of mayor in
writing on March 7, 2013 to be effective April 1, 2013;
WHEREAS, in accordance with Minnesota Statutes Section 351. 01, subdivision 3( b), a
resignation may be made to take effect on a future date and is deemed effective at 12: 01 a. m. on the stated date;
WHEREAS, Section 2. 06 of the Red Wing City Charter provides that a vacancy in the
office of mayor shall be filled by a special election;
WHEREAS, when a future vacancy becomes certain to occur and the vacancy must be filled by special election, Minnesota Statutes Section 351. 055 authorizes the City to begin procedures leading to the special election so that a successor may be elected at the earliest possible time;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the City Council of the City of Red Wing, that:
1. The Council hereby accepts the resignation of Mayor Egan, effective at 12: 01 a.m. on April 1.
2. The Council hereby directs the City Clerk to begin procedures leading to the special election so that a successor may be elected at the earliest possible time.
All of the statements, opinions, and views expressed on this site by Sally Jo Sorensen are solely her own, save when she attributes them to other sources.
The opinions, statements, and views of contributing writers are their own.
Sorensen, editor and proprietor of Bluestem Prairie, served as a New Media training and strategy consultant for the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party from October 2009 through mid-April 2010. She now serves clients in the business and nonprofit sectors.
Recent Comments