Frac sand final vote ahead: Winona County board to consider mining limit, ban Tuesday night - Winona Daily News

The Winona County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday night will have — possibly, anyway — its last discussion on a zoning ordinance change regarding industrial frac sand mining.

The board will speak about the issue during its regular meeting starting at 7 p.m., and will be asked to make a decision. There will not be a public hearing Tuesday; the issue has been the focus of multiple public hearings, most recently on Oct. 13, which drew a crowd of around 200 people.

Winona County attorney Karin Sonneman has presented several options in a memo to the board with directions it could go.

Commissioners could approve a complete ban on frac sand mining, which has been advocated for over the past year. They could choose the recommendation by the Winona County Planning Commission, which would limit the number and size of allowed mines. The could also continue as the county does now, with the mines subject to a conditional-use permit by the county, as well as any other negotiated special conditions or restrictions.

Yet other options could include a hybrid of those strategies, or setting a special meeting at a later date for a final vote.

The ban language was drafted by Winona County Attorney Karin Sonneman and draws from several examples, including Goodhue County’s Florence Township’s ban on silica sand mining for fracking and the Land Stewardship Project’s proposed ban language from the spring.

Sonneman’s legal analysis made several additions to the initial language, including making an argument for the amendment as it relates to the values in the county’s comprehensive plan and the purpose of the county’s zoning ordinance.

It also clarifies the distinctions between restrictions on different types of mineral excavation, extraction and land alteration by defining some as commercial minerals compared to industrial minerals.

The proposed regulatory option, which has been referred to as a compromise, was proposed by the planning commission after the ban language was sent to them to study.

Their amendment does not call for a ban on industrial sand production in the county, like the proposal presented to them for consideration did.

Instead, it limits the number of industrial sand mines allowed to operate in the county to six at any one time and limits the extent of each mine to no more than 40 acres. The proposed ordinance would subject industrial sand mines to additional environmental and operational regulations.

The pro-ban contingent has voiced for years concerns about health and environmental effects related to air, water and other pollution, questioned whether the process to reclaim a mined area is possible or able to be enforced, and raised other issues including road damage and road safety concerns from increased truck traffic.

The supporters of the regulatory alternative have also stayed close for years to their original arguments against the ban, saying that regulation can and has been demonstrated to work, that frac sand is no different than the mining of any other sand or similar materials, and that the right to responsibly work with and use minerals and resources has been long-supported in the county with appropriate regulation.