Company Gets Time to Finalize Sand Mine Plans
By Chris Vetter, The Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire, Wis.
Jun. 18–A decision on whether to recommend a permit for a sand mine in the town of Howard in Chippewa County will be made at a meeting in July.
The meeting will be at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, July 29, at the Howard Town Hall, 4052 Highway B.
Regardless of the Howard Plan Commission’s recommendation, the matter then will head to the full Town Board for a final decision later this summer.
About 200 people on Monday attended a Plan Commission hearing, which wrapped up at 11:30 p.m., board member Allan Schlaugat said.
The board voted 3-2 on Monday to table the permit request for six weeks to allow Canadian Sand and Proppant time to finish its plans.
“They didn’t have all the information we wanted,” Schlaugat said of the company.
At the meeting, Charlie Walker of the Chippewa County Economic Development Corporation repeatedly told the crowd that the meeting was happening “five weeks too early” because the company had not completed reports on reclamation plans, truck routes and other plans for the Department of Natural Resources.
Schlaugat said tabling the permit request gives the company time to come up with those answers.
Canadian Sand and Proppant has agreed to purchase a 93-acre lot in the city of Chippewa Falls to build a sand processing plant.
The company wants to sign an agreement with a farmer in the town of Howard, west of Chippewa Falls, to remove sand from an 80-acre parcel in increments of 10 acres and truck it to the plant.
The mine would be at the intersection of 55th Street and Highway B.
The mining permit would be for 40 years.
The company said the mine likely would be between 70 and 100 feet deep. This concerned some residents at the meeting, who wondered if it could affect their wells. Many people said their wells are less than 50 feet deep.
Vetter can be reached at 723-0303 or chris.vetter@ecpc.com.
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