Legalectric

Issues with mining reclamation in SE Minnesota

July 5th, 2014

Last year, the legislature directed three agencies to get to work on rulemaking for silica sand mining. Minnesota’s DNR was tasked with the “reclamation” aspects of silica sand mining, and reclamation is nothing new for the DNR, it’s something over which they do indeed have regulatory jurisdiction.

Minnesota Silica Sand Information Page

Silica Sand Advisory Panel Page

The Silica Sand RulemakingAdvisory Committee has been meeting for months… and months… and months… but the DNR has not produced any reclamation draft rules (oops, first typed “daft”) for the committee to review.

Some suggestions and issues to be aware of were raised based on Wisconsin practice, and hopefully they’re taking that into account.

Now here’s some pertinent information. There’s an extensive article in today’s Rochester Post Bulletin, issues that should be taken into consideration when the Rulemaking Advisory Committee addresses mining reclamation… dare I say REVIEWS DRAFT RULES FOR RECLAMATION???

Mining slows progress on Cascade Lake Park

Posted: Friday, July 4, 2014 10:35 am | Updated: 10:35 am, Fri Jul 4, 2014.

Bryna Godar, bgodar@postbulletin.com

Some roads near Cascade Lake Park in Rochester bear names like Beach View, Cascade Beach and Beach Lake. Some day, the road signs will be more descriptive of the area, but for now part of the lake shore is lined with big piles of sand and gravel still being mined there.

Cascade Lake Park has been a decades-long project centered on turning the gravel mining areas along Cascade Creek into a 100-acre lake and surrounding park with a public beach, fishing piers, a boat launch and trails linking it to the rest of the city.

According to a 2005 master plan for the project, mining activity was expected to be wrapped up in 2007 or 2008. But the economic downturn slowed the demand for the mined materials and consequently delayed the lake’s completion, said Park and Forestry Division Head Mike Nigbur.

Now, the park will likely not be complete until around 2022, Nigbur said.

Rochester City Council member Michael Wojcik, whose ward encompasses the park, said he hoped the lake would be entirely mined by now but he’s not worried about the park’s future.

“They are delays that are necessary to do what we want to do out there,” Wojcik said. “We could force the issue and just go ahead with the park, but the reality is we really want to have that big beautiful lake out there, so they need to keep mining.”

The project’s timeline has always been vague because it depends on mining progress and funding. In fact, some residents in the area don’t even know a park is planned.

“We’d kind of always been told not to hold our breath,” said Gregg Erickson, manager of Bouquet Cos., which is planning development alongside the future park.

Denny Stotz, who was assistant director of the Rochester Park and Recreation Department until 2011, said there never really was a concrete timeline for components like the beach or parking lot.

“The master plan was done in order to take advantage of the mining and the reclamation that the mining company was obligated to do, whether there was a master plan or not,” Stotz said.

Some facilities are already in place in the area, including soccer fields and a trail, which nearby residents said they love.

Nigbur said the city is hoping to work with the mining company to get the rest of the trail built around the lake in 2015.

There are some concerns with simultaneous construction activity and park development, Nigbur said, but there are ways to mitigate conflict and start doing some projects sooner rather than later. In addition to the trails, that could include starting to clear land area for a beach, Nigbur said.

Funding

Any added park component requires funding, something the department must request every year through the city’s capital improvement program.

“We’ve got some money in the budget right now, about $200,000, but that won’t go very far,” Nigbur said.

The department will need much more for its ambitious plans, but it will have to wait and see on a year-by-year basis how much the project gets.

“We don’t have funding to do a lot of the things that we intend to do out there right now,” Wojcik said, adding that they’re hoping to get Minnesota Legacy funding.

Even with less-than-certain funding and delays in the mining project, city officials are optimistic and excited about the park’s future.

“I think this park will be our generation’s gift to future generations,” Wojcik said.

Posted by Carol A. Overland

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Issues with mining reclamation in SE Minnesota

July 5th, 2014

Mining slows progress on Cascade Lake Park

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