Letter: Silica mining would end hope of organic certification

To the Editor:

After attending the public hearing in Red Wing on Monday July 16 and listening to all the testimony of people who so eloquently and specifically spoke to the Goodhue County Planning Advisory Commission I have decided to speak out to the public and commissioners.

I ask the planning commission to say “no” to any silica frac sand mining in Goodhue County and Hay Creek Township.

After 30 years leave of absence, I moved back home where my family has been for more than 200 years. I moved to Red Wing specifically for relocation of my meat goat operation, to use natural browse as feed, and to gain organic status with my animals. Gaining organic status takes many years and is extremely hard to earn.

If this new mining facility does settle here, gaining organic status will not be possible, as silica sand is a known carcinogen. The health of my herd and my family will be compromised and the hundreds of thousands of dollars that I have spent developing my operation in Hay Creek will be wasted, and I will have to move out of the county.

Silica sand is a known carcinogen. Commissioners, please create laws specifically for frac sand mining in Goodhue County. Create laws so specific and so deliberate that the mining company will never want come to our beautiful historic byway.

Laws such as: no frac particulates will be present or tolerated, daily testing for pollutants will occur, no public water usage from local waterways, no water usage from installed wells or local rivers, no disruption to ground water, no erosion, no disruption to the topsoil, no change of scenery. These are just a few examples of ways to completely discourage and hopefully eliminate the silica frac sand mining industry to ever even think of moving in to our township and county.

Predecessors have developed strong rules and regulations for the preservation of the historical significance of downtown Red Wing. Those regulations were made to discourage historical disruption to possible future business owners who want to operate here. Please do the same to silica frac sand mining.

Our landscape is more historical than the buildings themselves. Just say no!

Lynette Nadeau

Hay Creek

Tags: opinion, letters