It's no wonder that Rochester-based development company McGhie & Betts representative Jeff Broberg was booed by the crowd that packed the a Winona County Planning Commission meeting Thursday night.
The Winona Daily News reports in a Winona County Planning Commission meeting Thursday night:
Broberg’s time at the podium eventually caused contention, and after he was challenged to stick to the recommended two-minute time limit, he responded:
“As the applicant’s representative, I have a higher level of rights on these issues,” Broberg said.
The crowd booed.
Goodhue and Wabasha Counties have adopted one-year moratoriums to study silica-sand (or "fracking sand") issues. And while Broberg's brand of arrogance doesn't build trust, it's not the reasons that the other counties are putting the brakes on the extraction of silica sand from the Mississippi Bluff counties.
It's health, safety and other issues, not "job creators" thinking they have more rights than the rest of the country. And while Broberg may have a point if he's actually thinking of "legal standing," that sort of statement isn't going to win friends in a country whose attention is increasingly occupied by the loss of power by ordinary citizens.
Just saying.
Related posts: Goodhue County commissioners unanimously pass fracking sand mining moratorium
No fracking way: Wabasha County places temporary moratorium on silica sand mining
Jeff Broberg??? Unreal, but for him, yes, it's not surprising. This guy is also working for Oronoco Twp. on CapX and has done the most amazing job of misrepresentation and obfuscation I've ever seen. Thanks for this post, perfect timing.
Posted by: Carol A. Overland | Oct 22, 2011 at 01:05 AM
I attended the hearings on Thursday night. Broberg droned on and on about how this is no big deal, been done for millennia, he's the expert with "higher level of rights," and he's completely satisfied this mining is fine. Experts like this are the best that Big Oil can buy. Some of us older folk can remember the legion of doctors (on the RJ Reynolds tobacco payroll, no doubt) assuring America that cigarettes are not only completely safe, but are actually healthy!
This dude Stephen Doerr -- the "finder"on the Big Boys' payroll (he doesn't even live in Minnesota, of course) who scopes out potential new mines and waves some crisp new bills in front of the land-owner -- Doerr is truly a piece of work. He played an obtrusive and obnoxious role at the hearing Thursday, reading ad nauseum at the lectern from industry propaganda. He assured us that the strip-mined land will be improved and more beautiful after the mining is finished. Wonderful. I feel so very comforted upon hearing that.
And he says silica sand doesn't cause lung problems. Wrong again, Stephen.
The county highway engineer wants a moratorium on this stuff because he knows what we're in for if these mines get the go-ahead: HUNDREDS of huge trucks a day on our little township and county roads. He says it's $200,000 per mile to repair a county road -- and we're talking many many miles, thus many millions of dollars a year in road repair, not to mention the road closings to do it.
Who is going to pay for that damage? The oil and gas companies? Is Mr. Doerr going to pony up? Nope, it's you and me, baby. We'll foot that bill.
Stephen Doerr sounds absolutely giddy when he tells us that a "gold-rush" is coming to River City. The unfortunate reality, though, is that with Gold Rushes like this, anyone impertinent enough to glance at U.S. history will see that the Big Boys get the gold . . . and the rest of us get the shaft.
Posted by: Jim Gurley | Oct 22, 2011 at 07:45 PM