Letter: Seifert's wrong; we can, must be 'choosy'

To the Editor:

I felt deep disappointment as I listened to Ted Seifert’s interview with Roseanne Grosso on her radio show June 28. Seifert revealed that not only has he decided to vote in favor of frac sand mining in Goodhue County, he also supports granting a special-use permit that will allow silica sand mining.

His reasoning is that Red Wing needs the mining jobs, that “we can’t be too choosy about the industries we allow to do business here” and, when asked, he could not say how many jobs would be created.

I believe we can and should be choosy. Frac sand mining has been compared to mountaintop coal mining in West Virginia, requiring huge areas be stripped of trees and soil, along with the removal of entire hills and bluffs that make up the beautiful landscape of our beloved rivertown.

It is clear that silica sand dust causes lung disease, including cancer, and the mining process does serious, irreparable harm to the environment.

Water usage could reach hundreds of thousands of gallons a day.

As far the subject of economic gain, the real profits of the frac sand mining will go to the company headquarters in Midland, Texas. Is it really worth the health risks and environmental devastation to our “Pretty Red Wing”?

We need to be good caretakers of our world and leave it a better place for the generations to come. What do we want our legacy to be?

Judy Habedank

Red Wing

Tags: opinion, letters