Governor Dayton promises to visit Houston County to check out frac sand mining concerns

With several bills relating to frac sand mining working their way through the legislative process, plainly grassroots citizen activism in Southeastern Minnesota has been effective in making their concerns heard at the state legislature.

Now the governor has promised to visit Houston County after the session ends.

Rochester Post Bulletin staff writer Brett Boese reports in Gov. Dayton's Rochester visit draws big crowd:

More than 250 people gathered Thursday at the Heintz Center on the Rochester Community and Technical College campus to hear Gov. Mark Dayton speak on the final stop of his "Meetings with Mark" events that have been held across the state in recent weeks. . . .

After receiving a video about frac sand from a Houston County woman, Dayton promised to make a personal visit to the area after the current legislative session is complete. The governor expressed continued concerns about road impacts and water consumption related to the hot-button industry, which is the subject of several different bills being considered at the state level.

We/re not sure of this, but we suspect the video is "The Price of Sand," and we hope the governor and his staff watch it.

In other news, the Associated Press reports in Minn. Sen. Schmit: Stop silica mining around water wells:

The senator pushing for tougher regulations on silica sand mining says the state needs to take extra steps to protect drinking water from the booming industry.

Sen. Matt Schmit is asking the state to fund easements that would bar sand mines from being built where they could affect groundwater quality. Schmit hasn't set a dollar amount yet, but says the amount of easements would go up as the state's contribution increases.

The Senate Environment, Economic Development and Agriculture finance committee considered Schmit's proposal Wednesday as one of several infrastructure and construction projects to possibly include in a state bonding bill. . . .

Read the bill here.

Photo: Governor Mark Dayton.

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