Minnesota's Environmental Quality Board offers model frac-sand regulations

Minnesota’s Environmental Quality Board (EQB) on Wednesday adopted a “toolbox” of frac sand standards designed to help local governments regulate an industry whose explosive growth in the last 18 months has brought the region riches as well as controversy.

Read more in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

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.

While Wisconsin faces mining problems, LeSueur County's partnerships keep mining under control

The Unimin Corp. first came to Le Sueur County in 1970, starting at its silica sand mining operation in Ottawa. Over the past 40 years, it has expanded its operations, building long-term facilities in Ottawa and Kasota while avoiding the high-profile issues that have plagued the Wisconsin mining industry.

Read more in the St. Peter Herald.

Good jobs hang in the balance of Minnesota's frac sand debate

For a high school graduate who wanted nothing to do with college, Greg Stepka says, the limestone pit at Bryan Rock Products in Shakopee was a perfect refuge. He started in 1981 at $11.36 an hour and now makes almost triple that amount - plus full health insurance and pension benefits.

Read more in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Southeastern Minnesota asks state for frac sand help

Local officials and citizens from southeastern Minnesota pleaded at the Capitol Tuesday for state help to halt the expansion of industrial frac sand mining until more is known about the industry's effects on air, water and public health.

Read more in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Red Wing's mayor gets second job with frac sand lobbying group

Red Wing Mayor Dennis Egan has been hired to run a new lobbying and trade group for the frac sand industry, triggering consternation in his hometown just as it begins considering what position to take in a sand-ming debate that is emerging at the State Capitol.