Town Signs Unimin Deal; Town Attorney Recommends Ordinance Controlling New Sand Mines

A s expected, voters in the town of Greenfield gave the town board the go ahead to sign a deal with Unimin last week. Roughly 130 voters turned out for the special election (no absentee ballots allowed) and voted overwhelmingly for the agreement. Perhaps more interesting: town attorney Rick Radcliffe’s recommendations for regulating any new sand mines that might try to move into the township, right down to weight limits that could possibly shut down sand mine.

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The town of Greenfield pushes back and Unimin yields on some issues, agreeing to pay the town more--but not on issues such as compensating landowners for losses in the value of their property.

Voters in the town of Greenfield will get the final say on a new version of a proposed agreement between Unimin, which plans to build a giant sand mine in the unzoned township, and the town itself, on Sept. 12. After their vote, the votes will be counted and the town board will vote on the full agreement in the regular monthly meeting.

The new agreement presented last night brings more money to the town and more guarantees that it will get that money than the first version, which was introduced last week at a highly charged meeting that saw heated debate about the proposal.

After that meeting town board representatives went back to Uninim. Town attorney Rick Radcliffe warned townspeople at the earlier meeting that Unimin could easily walk away from the deal. However, despite his fears, Unimin yielded on a few points, but not on others, a major one being compensating neighbors for property devaluation. However, Unimin did agree to pay the town more money and gave greater assurances that the town will get that money.

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County records show that Unimin, which intends to build its biggest sand mine in the town of Greenfield, has paid more than $2 million to the Greenfield town chair’s mother, two brothers and nephew. Read More...

Sand is a hot commodity. One analyst estimates that hydro-fracking sucked up 59 billion pounds of sand last year and he expects that to soar to 79 billion pounds this year. Prices also almost coubled. Read More...

Here’s Jason Smathers’ story about frac sand mining--starting out with an interview with Tunnel City’s Letha Webster. Smathers is with the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism. Read More...