Wisconsin DNR to take fresh look at sand mining regulations

The state Department of Natural Resources will conduct new analysis of the health and environmental effects of Wisconsin's fast-growing sand mining industry. The Natural Resources Board voted 7-0 in Madison on Wednesday to begin work on a "strategic analysis" of industrial sand mining and whether the industry is being properly regulated.

Read more in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

DNR shuts down Houston County sand mine

Minnesota's Department of Natural Resources ordered a sand mine in Erickson to shut down, saying it didn't ave a permit to operate near trout streams. The mine, which is the first in the state to run afoul of new sand-mining regulations, will be able to reopen once it gets the permit, the Winona Daily News reported.

Read more in Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. 

Provision to Close Downtown Mpls lock has Bipartisan Minn. Support

A bill in Washington, D.C. could close the Upper St. Anthony Falls lock. A provision in the final water infrastructure bills says closing the dam would help fight the spread of invasive carp in Minnesota waterways. The dam is situated on the Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis.

Read the story at KSTP.

Our view: No moratorium needed on frac sand mining

Minnesota legislative leaders have no plans to consider a moratorium on silica-sand mining during this session after passing a package of regulations in 2013. That's a wise decision. The measures passed last year offer reasonable environmental safeguards while state and local officials decide how best to regulate this fast-growing industry.

Read more in the Rochester Post-Bulletin.

Frechette serves on silica sand advisory panel

Allen Frechette, Scott County environmental health manager, will serve on a new joint advisory panel that will guide the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) as they consider possible rule making for the regulation of silica sand operations in Minnesota, the agencies announced today.

For a complete list of the committee members, go to the Shakopee Valley News.

DNR’s Landwehr to locals on groundwater: ‘You figure it out.’

Some 200 local officials, government staff members, business representatives, metro area residents and legislators showed up Wednesday night in Shoreview to see and hear the state Department of Natural Resources kick off its groundwater management area for the north and east metro area.

New tactics explored to protect groundwater

Amid mounting concern over depletion and contamination of Minnesota's groundwater supplie, the Department of Natural Resources, Department of Agriculture and other agencies are vowing to step up the protection of the state's most threatened aquifers.

Read more in Finance & Commerce.

State regulators writing new frac sand rules

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and other state agencies are beginning to write new rules for frac sand mining as part of a plan ordered by the Legislature. The special silica sand, abundant in southeast Minnesota and southwest Wisconsin, is a vital piece of the oil drilling process in North Dakota's Bakken fields.

Read more at Minnesota Public Radio.

Two agencies crafting new sand mining rules

Two Minnesota government agencies are in the early stages of developing new environmental rules governing the silica sand mining vital to hydraulic fracturing. The Department of Natural Resources and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency put out requests for comments Monday as they fashion sand mining rules.

Read more in the Winona Daily News.

Dayton proposes water use permit overhaul

Gov. Mark Dayton is proposing a new funding structure for big water users in Minnesota that would nearly triple the cost of water for some cities. The Department of Natural Resources says some parts of the state are using more groundwater than supplies can sustain, and the agency doesn't have the resources to deal with the problem.

Read more at Minnesota Public Radio.

Industrial sand mining causing regulators to scramble

Finance & Commerce newspaper ran a subscription-only article June 18th about the growing interest in frac sand mining regulation by legislators. The concern is that current environmental permitting laws and regulators are not equipped to handle the rush for frac sand, particularly in southeastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin.

In the recent legislative session, two legislators proposed amendments to the omnibus environment bill. Rep. Andrew Falk, DFL-Murdock, proposed adding the condition that frac sand companies pay a fee into an account that counties could use to cover reclamation costs. Rep. Rick Hansen, DFL-South St. Paul, proposed increasing the aggregate tax to pay the cost of public infrastructure improvements needed as a result of frac sand mining. Neither amendment got very far in the 2012 session.

Finally, the article described how the state departments of Health and Transportation, as well as the MPCA are reviewing their processes and permits to see if they're sufficient enough for the fast-growing frac sand mining.

ARM is monitoring this issue very closely and we'll keep you informed when there are new developments, particularly regarding state regulations.  - Fred Corrigan

Regulation -- like chasing the wind with a net

With the economic troubles that began in 2007, and especially now with a national political campaign underway, there is an intense focus on wrongdoing. Every newspaper, it seems, now has an editor in charge of exposing wrongdoing. There is a visible desire to punish wrongdoers. A desire to stop wrongdoing.

Read more in the Minneapolis Star Tribune (subscription may be required).

Minnesota environmental management becomes more business friendly

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton on Monday signed into law some proposals to further ease environmental permitting headaches for businesses Dayton, who is DFL, and the Republican-led state Legislature already joined together in 2011 to set a goal that air, water and land permits should be processed within 150 days.

Read more in Finance & Commerce.

Minnesota Chamber: Still room for improvement on environmental permitting

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton and state legislators made a big push last year to make the state’s environmental permitting process more business friendly. But the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce says there’s still plenty of room for improvement.

“We’ve also heard from regional meetings, we’ve also heard from our members that the time to get an environmental permit in this state takes too long, it costs too much, and once we finally move through that process we aren’t certain we’re going to get that permit at the end,” Tony Kwilas, the Chamber’s environmental policy expert, told members during the group’s Session Priorities meeting in St. Paul on Tuesday.

Read more in Finance and Commerce.

Meeting with new DNR commissioner

ARM member Dave Edmunds and I met yesterday with the new DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr and Larry Kramka, Assistant Commissioner and Lands & Minerals Division Director on March 14 following the retirement reception for Marti Vadis, outgoing Division Director of the Lands & Minerals Division. The meeting reviewed the ongoing partnership that the aggregate industry has had with the Land & Minerals Division and the aggregate mapping program, water appropriations and the potential impact of the Legacy program on aggregate reserves in Minnesota.

On Thursday, ARM members will have the opportunity to go into more details about our concerns with Assistant Commissioner Kranka.