We've been following Minnesota's frac sand battles since Trix's mother was a pup- or at least 2011 with Connecting the dots on fracking sand: from Hay Creek Township's citizens to the New York Times.
The latest wrinkle in this tale of frac sand versus farmland? At the Star Tribune, Matt McKinney reports Company wants to take Minnesota county's frac sand ban to U.S. Supreme Court, and at the Forum Communications outlet, Rivertown, Matthew Guerry reports Minnesota Sands asks U.S. Supreme Court to review Winona County's silica sand mining ban.
Since the Rivertown's article named the company and the county in its headline, as well as posting first, we'll start with Guerry's reporting:
A Minnesota company interested in mining for silica sand in the southeastern part of the state has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its lawsuit against a county-level ban on the practice.
Minnesota Sands LLC announced that it filed for the review on Tuesday, Oct. 8, and is arguing once again that the Winona County ban violates the Constitution. The move follows the state Supreme Court's upholding of the ban in March, when it sided with lower courts on the matter.
In a news release Tuesday, company president Rick Frick said he was hopeful that the Supreme Court would overturn the ban, saying that it violates the Constitution's commerce clause and "constitutes a regulatory taking of Minnesota Sands’ valuable mineral interests in the county."
"We would much rather be moving forward with work to develop and build our project but were left with no other choice but to bring this matter to the United States Supreme Court," Frick said.
Silica sand is used for hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the oil and gas extraction technique that involves high-presser injections of water, gravel or sand and chemicals into rock. In practice, the sand holds open fractures created in the earth and allows oil and gas to flow out. It is also used in construction. . . .
Minnesota Sands holds several mining leases in [Minnesota], including five in Winona County. The privately held company claims to have invested millions of dollars in efforts to obtain the involved mineral rights and has for years come up against opposition from some environmental advocacy groups and residents in the area.
Public outcry was loud enough in 2016 for the Winona County commissioners to enact a ban on frac sand mining, the first of its kind in the state, that Minnesota Sands has challenged in court now several times over. Winona County has not submitted an official response to the company's new filing submitted last week.
In a phone interview Tuesday, Winona County attorney Karin Sonneman said the county will review the filing with outside counsel it previously worked with on previous cases against the ban.
The ban prohibits the mining and processing of industrial silica sand but does not prohibit mining for sand used in construction projects, which doesn't necessarily need to be processed. Because Minnesota Sands has no market for frac sand in Minnesota to begin with, it has argued, it would invariably be sold and transported to out-of-state companies.
Thus the ban, the company has said, effectively violates the Constitution's interstate commerce clause. It also renders worthless land Minnesota Sands leased prior to its taking effect, the company has said, effectively violating the takings clause, which allows the government to seize private property only if it provides "just compensation."
"The arguments that they're making in that are the same that they made throughout the appellate process," Sonneman said of the new filing.
Reached by phone Tuesday, Johanna Rupprecht, a policy program organizer at the Minnesota-based Land Stewardship Project, which opposes the sand mining proposals, said it was disappointing but not surprising for Minnesota Sands to challenge the ban once more. The group may file an amicus brief in the case as it has in the past, she said.
"It certainly fits within the pattern of behavior of this company. They have shown that they don't respect democracy. They don't respect the will and the decision of a democratically elected local government, they don't respect the will of the people in the community of Winona County or any other communities where they're trying to operate," Rupprecht said.
"It's just like one last desperate attempt to try to be able to do what they've been clearly told no, they cannot do so many times, now," she said.
And in the Strib:
A mining company plans to take its fight to overturn the Winona County ban on frac sand mining to the U.S. Supreme Court, a company spokesman said Tuesday.
Minnesota Sands, which lost its case before the Minnesota Supreme Court in March, said the ban violates the U.S. Constitution.
“We are hopeful the Court will decide to hear this case and overturn what we continue to believe is an ordinance that clearly interferes with interstate commerce and violates the Constitution’s Commerce Clause,” company president Rick Frick said in a statement.
The southeast Minnesota county passed the ban in 2016 — the first in the state — after mining of the rich silica sand deposits there had begun.
Frick sued the county in 2017. A district court upheld the ban, as did the Appeals Court in a 2-1 decision in 2018.
In March, the seven-member state Supreme Court affirmed lower court rulings that let the ban stand, with two justices dissenting in full and one dissenting in part. . . .
An organization that fought for the creation of the ban said the company’s appeal to the Supreme Court was “disappointing.”
“The people of Winona County have understood for many years that the frac sand mining, processing and transport industry offers no benefit to rural communities and is too harmful to be allowed to operate in their communities,” said Johanna Rupprecht of the Land Stewardship Project.
Here's the full statement by the Land Stewardship Project:
Today, Minnesota Sands, LLC filed a petition asking the United States Supreme Court to hear an appeal in its lawsuit seeking to overturn the Winona County frac sand mining ban. Such requests are not automatically accepted by the Court, and given the utter disrespect this company, as well as the frac sand industry in general, have shown when it comes to the will of the people in Winona County and for the integrity of the land itself, this move is disappointing, but unsurprising.
The land has inherent value, and the health of the land and of people are interconnected. All decisions about land use must be made with the needs of the future in mind. The people of Winona County have understood for many years that the frac sand mining, processing, and transport industry offers no benefit to rural communities and is too harmful to be allowed to operate in their communities. That is why Land Stewardship Project members in Winona County carried out a successful, 17-month grassroots organizing campaign calling on the County Board to pass the ban on frac sand mining activities, which it did on Nov. 22, 2016. This process was an example of local government acting fully within its rights, and exactly as it should act — taking a bold step to respond to the will of the public and protect the common good for both people and the land.
Yet, Minnesota Sands has repeatedly attempted to subvert local democracy and the will of the people by turning to the courts in an attempt to undo the frac sand ban ordinance. In spite of the company’s initial lawsuit and two subsequent appeals, the ban has been upheld by the Winona County District Court, the Minnesota Court of Appeals, and the Minnesota Supreme Court, and remains in place today.
Court filings make it clear Minnesota Sands plans on pursuing frac sand mining at numerous sites in southeastern Minnesota, a factor which triggered the state Environmental Quality Board’s requirement that an Environmental Impact Statement be completed. Minnesota Sands’ petition to the Supreme Court is one more indicator that the company wants to pursue mining activities throughout that part of the state.
The hills, bluffs, and farmland of Winona County are not for sale to the oil, gas, and frac sand industries to strip-mine and destroy. The people of Winona County and southeastern Minnesota remain steadfast in their commitment to ensuring that Minnesota Sands’ damaging, unacceptable proposals never move forward.
We'll be following this story as it unfolds.
Related posts:
- Outstanding decision! MN Supremes uphold Winona County frac sand mining ordinance
- State Supreme Court to hear MN Sands challenge of Winona Co frac sand ordinance on April 10
- Johanna Rupprecht: family farmers and rural people can fight back for their values & future
- Frac Sand Interests Object to LSP Having Hand in Winona Co's New Sand Mine Ban Lawsuits
- Winona Co. soil & water board wants fracking sand moratorium; opposition spreads to Olmsted
- One-year moratorium for new frac sand mining gains traction as senate committee approves bill
- Frick off: fracking sanding permits and moratorium momentum slow in Winona Co
Photo: Via Ecowatch article by Winona County resident Jim Gurley, Huge Victory: Winona County, Minnesota Bans Frac Sand Mining Superior Silica Sands Mine-Town of Auburn-Chippewa County. Photo credit: Jim Tittle.
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