Looking at sand from the county perspective

With a larger amount of land to consider, the Goodhue County Mining Study Committee is moving at a slower pace than the city of Red Wing.

During Red Wing’s joint Planning and Sustainability commission meeting Wednesday night, Roseanne Grosso, a member of the county’s committee, was asked about advancements.

“With our mining ordinance, we’re progressing very slowly,” Grosso answered.

The Mining Study Committee met earlier that morning for three hours and largely discussed transportation concerns, such as whether mining companies should be required to sign road agreements. The problem was determining at which point that would be required.

“When are we going to tell somebody that they need to have a road agreement?” Goodhue County Land-use Management Director Lisa Hanni asked.

If standards become too stringent, it could cause complications for trucks that already use the roads for agricultural and other purposes.

“Here we are trying to make this one size fits all, but we’re at the risk of damaging other peoples’ business,” committee member John Tittle said.

The mining committee will continue assembling monthly, with its next meeting set for May 9.

Tags: goodhue county, environment, sand, news