drown sand mine monroe township high school

Landowners in the town of Cooks Valley are disputing a local ordinance regulating sand mines.

The Chippewa Enquirer, 6/29/11, reports that a land-rights dispute over a silica sand mine has been appealed to the state Supreme Court. “NineNews” 6/16/11, says Unimin, “now known by the name of its parent company, Sibelco, faces three criminal charges that it illegally removed construction sand from its mineral sands mines” on Stradbroke Island, Australia. Reported by Josephine Marcotty, 612-673 7394 Describes a failed attempt to block a sand mine in Chippewa Falls and a current effort in Red Wing. Mines are “largely unregulated” and WI has no health standards for silica dust. Minneapolis Star Tribune, 6/20/11, reports “a contentious land rush” from Black River Falls to Red Wing and down the Mississippi for open-pit silica sand mining to support “fracking.” Concerns are silica dust (“causes a number of lung diseases, including cancer”), water use (processing at one mine requires 600,000 gallons/day, “although much of it will be recycled on site”), trucking and blasting. In addition, here's other coverage of the issue. Sand mining, which extracts sands that companies can use to fracture rock and extract natural gas and oil, has become a veritable gold rush in this era of soaring fuel prices.At the same time, it's a highly controversial practice. For Town of Greenfield residents, the most pertinent covers the Valley Junction sand mine (pictured on this site’s home page), just ten miles away from Tunnel City. The best coverage of the issue in Monroe County is in the June 16th edition of the County Line (Editor Karen Parker covers in detail the operations in four different locations in northern Monroe County.

Here's local coverage of other sand mines in our area.

Drown sand mine monroe township high school