- According to the Winona Post, Arcadia, Wis.’s moratorium on nonmetallic sand mine operations will remain in place. Arcadia City Council members decided to not take any action to prematurely lift the city’s moratorium on sand mining operations that was implemented last year and is expected to expire September 15, 2015.
- Senate Bill 1803 directs the Illinois Department of Transportation to conduct a study on the effects of agricultural, manufacturing, mining and other industrial operations in La Salle, DeKalb, Kendall, Grundy, Livingston, Woodford, Marshall, Putnam, Bureau and Lee counties. The Illinois Department of Transportation would then submit a report to lawmakers by Jan. 1, 2017, that includes:
- The impact of road usage and traffic pattern disruptions by sand mine trucking companies.
- The potential road improvement plans to alleviate the additional highway traffic caused by sand mine operations.
- The potential for adding new railway traffic caused by sand mine operations.
- The estimates of current and future tourism trends for the state parks and tourism areas in La Salle County and the effects of sand mine operations on visitors to those parks and tourism areas.
- Recommendations to the General Assembly as to whether further legislation or rulemaking is needed to regulate sand mining in Illinois.
- According to WQOW news, Cooks Valley, Wis., Town Clerk Victoria Trinko recruited a man named Henry Boschen to fly a drone over a Chippewa Sands Mine property. The drone lost power and crashed, landing on the mine’s property. When Boschen and Trinko tried to retrieve it, the mine called the Chippewa County Sheriff’s Department. The sand mine refused to return the drone until Thursday. Brian Noldolf, the lawyer for Chippewa Sands Mine, said they would like to see not only trespassing citations, but also illegal use of a drone charges for Trinko and Boschen for illegal surveillance of the mine.