As predicted back in November, Minnesota Sands has filed an appeal with the Minnesota Court of Appeals following Winona County District Court Judge Mary Leahy's dismissal of the company's lawsuit seeking to throw out the county's frac sand mining ban.
At the Rochester Post Bulletin, Brian Todd reports in Mining company appeals ruling on Winona County frac ban:
Minnesota Sands LLC, the company behind the challenge to the frac sand mining ban in Winona County, has filed an appeal with the Minnesota Court of Appeals over the district court ruling upholding the ban.
The appeal was filed Jan. 16. A date for oral arguments has not yet been set.
According the statement of the case, Minnesota Sands challenges the ordinance on several bases. The list of reasons for the appeal includes, "whether the Ordinance Amendment violates Appellant's equal protection, due process, interstate commerce clause, and taking rights; whether material issues of fact remain in the case."
Calls to attorneys at Faegre Baker Daniels LLP, the Minneapolis law firm representing Minnesota Sands, were not returned.
On Nov. 17, District 6 Court Judge Mary Leahy ruled with prejudice against the case brought by Minnesota Sands, Southeast Minnesota Property Owners and Roger Dabelstein. The ruling, which supported the county's ban on mining silica sand for the industrial purpose of hydraulic fracturing, supported the county board's legislative rights.
Winona County Attorney Karin Sonneman, who wrote the ban, said Leahy's ruling showed how vital it is for counties to create regulations that address unique features. In the case of Winona County, she said, that would include the karst geology that is impacted by land use, mining and water infiltration rates. . . .
Read the rest at the Post Bulletin. In the Winona Daily News, Glen Olson reports in Winona County anti-frac sand group confident ban will hold up in appellate court:
Winona County’s Land Stewardship Project is continuing its support of Winona County’s frac sand mining ban as a mining group appeals its case to nullify the ban to the higher court.
LSP said in a statement that the decision by Minnesota Sands to take the Winona County District Court’s dismissal of its lawsuit to the state’s Court of Appeals continued to show contempt for the area’s citizens and governments.
“The oil, gas and frac sand industry has no respect for rural people, our communities, our democracy or the land. It is yet another outrageous and desperate attack by an industry that is unwilling to take ‘no’ for an answer in its quest to exploit our region’s hills, bluffs and farms for the silica sand found beneath them.”
The group said ‘long-standing legal precedent supports the authority of a local government to use its zoning powers in this way to protect the community” and they were confident the ban would be upheld. . . .
Minnesota Sands announced last week that it would be appealing the court decision, after unsuccessfully arguing that the ban violated their constitutional rights by singling out sand used for industrial purposes while allowing mining for construction uses.
LSP was not a party to the district court case despite asking to be allowed to intervene in the lawsuit, and is not involved in the appeal.
Land Stewardship Project was highly involved in the more than year-long effort which ended in the passage of the industrial sand mining ban by Winona County in November 2016.
Johanna Rupprecht, policy organizer for the Land Stewardship Project, said the success of Winona County passing the mining ban is something that can be replicated in other areas, as can the successful defense of the ban in court.
“People in other areas are definitely watching what’s going on in Winona County,” Rupprecht said.
The group has continued to organize on the sand mining issue, including in the Environmental Quality Board’s process for a Minnesota Sands mine in Fillmore County. . . .
Read the rest in the Winona Daily News. Bluestem's coverage of this case includes:
Frac sand interests object to LSP having hand in Winona Co's new sand mine ban lawsuits
With prejudice! MN District Court judge tosses corporate attack on Winona Co frac sand ban
As mining companies ponder appeals, frac sand ban proponents beyond Winona Co take heart
Photo: Land Stewardship Project led a vigorous campaign for the Winona County ordinance. Yard signs popped like shaggy manes on lawns across the county. Photo via Winona Daily News.
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