Town of Angelo Passes Six-Month Sand Mine Moratorium

The Angelo town board passed a six-month moratorium on sand mines this morning. The township will create a committee of townspeople to carefully study the process of sand mining and what legal controls are available to the township. "It gives us six months to consider what actions might be taken in order to protect the people, so to speak, in the town," said Tom Leverich, town chair. About 25 people attended the meeting in the town hall. The board called for a show of hands for all those who supported a moratorium and all but two people raised their hands. It goes into effect upon publication and has been submitted to the Sparta Herald.

Skip Frazee photo

Town of Sparta Poised to Pass Sandmining Moratorium

The town of Sparta voted last night to hold a hearing March 6 on whether or not to pass a sand mining moratorium in the township. The approximately 50 people attending the meeting of the board of supervisors overwhelmingly voiced support for a moratorium. Late last year, the city of Sparta annexed a farm in the town of Sparta to speed approval of a sand mine that U.S. Silica will build and operate.

Howard Garves, town chair, said that at the March 6 meeting, the board will discuss the length of a moratorium. It could be four months, six months or a year. The town wants a moratorium to give it time to create a town of Sparta ordinance to govern sand mining in the town.

“It is not a zoning ordinance,” he said.

At last night’s meeting the board invited the public to give its views on a moratorium.

“They overwhelmingly said that they want a moratorium,” Garves said. “Our intention is the have the hearing and if it is the wish o the people at that time, based again on the hearing, then we will adopt it"

Those at the meeting also discussed reports of other sales of property in the town of Sparta to sand mines. These properties are near the U.S. Silica site, which used to be in the town of Sparta. The city of Sparta annexed the land at the request of the property owners to simplify the approval process for the sand mine. Jeff Jahn, mine planning and development manager for U.S. Silica, said that U.S. Silica is not the sand mine company that is trying to buy the properties that are either being sold or have options to sell on them.

Town of Angelo to Discuss Sand Mine Moratorium in Special Meeting Friday Morning

The town board of Angelo is holding a special meeting at 10 a.m. Friday, Feb. 24, to discuss a sand mine moratorium and regulating sand mines.

The board discussed sand mines at its regular monthly meeting Feb. 14. At that meeting, one resident of the township expressed concerns about the sand mine and, according to the minutes of the meeting, town board supervisor Steve Treu said he would support a moratorium on sand mining in the township to allow the board to develop some procedures or licensing to protect the township and its residents. The board then had the town attorney draft a resolution for the special meeting, which will be held Friday.

All three board supervisors attended a day-long meeting about sand mining held by the Wisconsin Towns Association late last year. The other supervisors are Tom Leverich, chair, and Warren Kastberg. Mary Carlisle is the town clerk and treasurer.

An official notice of the meeting is running in the Monroe County Democrat on Thursday, Feb. 23. On the agenda: "Discussion and possible action on the town of Angelo ordinance to impose a moratorium on the expansion of existing and creation of new non-metallic operations within the town of Angelo pending the study of possible legislative action."

Proposed Sand Mine Site Next to Sparta Municipal Golf Course

Click on the link below to read more about land a sand mine is trying to buy in the town of Angelo.


The area outlined in red is land a sand mine is seeking to buy. It is immediately adjacent to the municipal golf course (if you look closely, you can see the greens). It straddles the LaCrosse River and drains into Perch Lake. It's immediately across from Memorial Park, the football field, softball fields and the municipal swimming pool. This image is from the Monroe County website, www.co.monroe.wi.us .

Sparta City Council Okays Sand Mine Permit

The Sparta City Council voted six to two last night to deny all appeals and okayed a conditional use permit for the mine.  It voted to approve a conditional use permit for the mine, despite several appeals to delay approval in order to learn more about the sand mine and its impact on health and other concerns. Another pointed to precedents set by other municipalities in the area with sand mines. These municipalities have charged sand mines fees or gotten property value guarantees from sand mines.

Five people had filed appeals against the city planning commission's approval of the mine. One appeal pointed to the agreement the town of Greenfield negotiated with the sand mine going in near Tunnel City. The town will collect 15 cents per ton annually, amounting to an estimated $250,000 each year, as a precedent Sparta could follow. Others expressed concern about depreciating property values and gave the board copies of an agreement including such provisions that the town of Howard in nearby Chippewa County made with a sand mine there.

The two council members who voted in favor of the appeal were Connie Anderson and Ed Lukasek. Those voting to deny the appeal were Ron Button, Jim Church, Carlos Holcomb, Norman Stanek, Dan Hellman and Kevin Riley.  Click here to read the Monroe County Democrat's coverage of that meeting. One note: there is an error in both the head line and story. Tony Angelini was not ejected from the meeting.

Sand Mines Neighbors Complain About Noise, Dirt and Inescapable Dust

Everyone who lives near a sand mine in La Salle County, where several sand mines are located, including one of U.S. Silica's, complains about noises from machinery, blasting, and worst of all, silica dust, which invades homes, cars and nearby properties, not to mention your lungs.

That's according to Kevin Caulfield a reporter for the News Tribune, which covers north central Illinois. Caulfield, who is pro-sand mine, has been covering the sand mines in La Salle County for eight years. "I've even seen it with my own eyes," says Caulfield, who supports sand mines. "These are dirty operations that make life difficult for those living nearby."

Sand mines don't try to be dirty. They work hard to maintain clean operations, says Caulfield. But the nature of sand makes that nearly impossible.

"I've found in talking to mining operators that it is their intention to do everything possible to be good neighbors, and they certainly try," says Caulfield. "But frankly, we're talking about a mine. No one wants to live next to them and no one will buy residential property next to one."

A thousand people in La Salle County signed a petition opposing a new sand mine proposed for next to Starved Rock State Park.

"The reason there are so many protesters is because everyone knows someone who has lived next to a mine," says Caulfield.

Caulfield supports sand mines, as long as they're in rural areas. To have one next to a densely populated area, he says, "sounds insane."

Will Sparta's Conditional Use Permit Protect You? Maybe Not!

Will the current conditional use permit for Sparta's sand mine protect you? One local resident is dubious. Here's what she had to say about it.


First, here's a link to US Silica's Conditional Use Permit for the Sparta plant, located here: http://spartawisconsin.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Conditional-Use-Permit.pdf


Now, read Donna Evans' analysis of the permit and how what it describes would translate into Sparta's everyday life with a sand mine.

See page 14 about station 1:
"From station 1, the sand will delivered to wet attrition scrubbers, which clean the grains before they
are hydraulically classified (station 2) into two streams – one coarse and one fine. The fine stream of
sand will be pumped to a location where it can be either further processed at a later date, or returned
to the mined out section of the mine pond for deposition."

"Since mining and operation of the wet plant are seasonal, coarse sand surge piles will be established
each year in order to allow the continuous operation of the dry plant. The surge piles will be
depleted by early spring each year."

"The coarse sand stream will be placed in surge in front of one or more natural gas fired fluid bed
dryers, which will remove all residual moisture from the grains."

It is my understanding that some of the large stationary piles of sand that I have seen off Hwy N in Oakdale are referred to as "the fines", which, according to this CUP would make sense. The "fines" are not the ideal grains used for the final product, they are are smaller in size than the coarser grains, and can sit stationary in large piles for an extended period of time. So, my first question would be, do these "fines" emit harmful levels of fugitive silica dust? I would also question whether the larger coarse surge piles emit fugitive silica dust as well.

Finally, read page 18 of US Silica's Conditional Use Permit where it states:

"ii. Fugitive Dust Emission Controls
Emissions associated with sand mining, material handling, outdoor storage, and vehicle emissions are
referred to as “fugitive” emissions. Fugitive emissions will be controlled with best management
practices that include paving drive areas, watering dirt roads and stockpiles, application of nonhazardous
dust suppressants, limiting the amount of “open area”, restoring vegetative cover,
installing and operating spray bars on dry processes and conveyor drop points, installing wind
screens as appropriate, and general good housekeeping at the facility. Since dredge or wet mining
techniques will be used, little if any dust or fugitive emissions will be generated from actual mining.
The fines stockpiles and surge pile will likely be the biggest potential sources of fugitive emissions.
Controls will include regular visual emission observations, wetting the piles when visual emissions
are observed, and utilization of wind screening as necessary."

So, not only will US Silica be using groundwater to wet down dust piles, but local residents are relying on U.S. Silica's "visual observations" to determine if wetting is necessary? Didn't US Silica's MSDS state, "Do not rely on your sight to determine if dust is in the air"?

There is obviously conflicting information between what is suggested to be acceptable dust control in the Conditional Use Permit, and what US Silica's own MSDS states about protective measures in handling silica dust. The Sparta plant will be operating in very close proximity to residents, and this concern should not be taken lightly.

On a windy day like today, December 26, where gusts are up to 27 mph and there is hardly any snow, it is only logical to think that some level of fugitive dust is going to be a problem to nearby residents with a 100-200 acre open pit sand mine and very large piles of fine and coarse sand exposed to the elements (reference the youtube clip above). Would anyone would actually "wet" the piles down in the winter if there is no snow and when watering is impractical in low temperatures? At what point does U.S. Silica's visual observation warrant dust control implementation; is there a certain wind speed that dictates this? Do people have to complain first? Should sand processing plants be prohibited from operating withing a certain distance of schools and housing to protect people from blowing silica dust? These are just a few questions that should be addressed and clarified in writing prior to C.U.P. approval.

Due to these concerns, I believe the methods for controlling fugitive dust emission on US Silica's Conditional Use Permit are potentially inadequate for the public's best interest, and the C.U.P. was issued without allowing the Sparta residents and elected officials enough time to discuss and research this matter.