In County board not approving or putting moratorium on frac sand mining, the Winona Daily News reports that while fracking sand mining moratorium advocates may be facing a setback, those seeking sandmining permits no longer give a Frick.
The lede:
The Winona County Planning Commission backed away from moving forward on a frac sand moratorium Thursday, while the permitting process for at least two of the three proposed county mines took a confusing turn.
At the meeting, which drew a crowd of nearly 100, the commission voted 4-3 not to set a public hearing for a moratorium. It also tabled - against the wishes of some commissioners - the three applications for mining frac sand at sites in Saratoga Township.
What caused the tabling of the permits? The paper reports:
Earlier Thursday, a consultant who prepared two of the three permits abruptly backed out of the process.
Richard Frick, who helped prepare applications for landowners Daniel Reps and Lewis Reiman, sent the county a one-sentence memo saying he is withdrawing both applications.
Frick's intentions weren't immediately clear, and he didn't return phone calls Friday. The landowners, who didn't attend Thursday's meeting and didn't return calls Friday, both responded with written notices saying that they plan to continue pursuing the permits but need time to seek legal counsel.
"If Rick Frick wants to abandon the permitting process, so be it." they wrote in separate letters that bore identical words. "Rick Frick is not now acting in my behalf."
Even without Frick on their team, the permit applicants have the bureaucratic upperhand. The paper notes that without county action, the permits will be automatically approved in mid-January.
Photo: A fracking sand mine pit in Texas.
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