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LSP Statement on MN Sands Petition to U.S. Supreme Court

Corporation Yet Again Ignores Local Democracy & the Will of the People Today, Minnesota Sands, LLC filed a petition asking the United States Supreme Court to hear an appeal in its lawsuit seeking to overturn the Winona County frac sand mining ban. Such requests are not automatically accepted by the Court, and given the utter…  Read More

Minnesota Supreme Court Upholds Winona County Frac Sand Mining Ban

Decision Marks 3rd Time Ban is Supported in the Courts SAINT PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota Supreme Court today upheld Winona County’s landmark ordinance banning frac sand mining. The court ruled that Winona County acted fully within its rights when it used its zoning authority in 2016 to prohibit industrial mining operations. This latest ruling…  Read More

LSP Statement on Court Ruling to Uphold the Winona County Frac Sand Ban

On Nov. 17, Minnesota District Court Judge Mary Leahy dismissed with prejudice pro-frac sand interests’ claims in their attempt to undo the Winona County, Minn., frac sand ban. The judge ruled that the county acted fully within its authority in passing this ordinance to protect public health, safety and general welfare from industrial mining operations.…  Read More

LSP STATEMENT: Response to Pro-Frac Sand Interests’ Objections to LSP’s Participation in Legal Defense of Winona County Ban

Pro-frac sand interests suing Winona County in southeastern Minnesota have attempted to block the Land Stewardship Project’s (LSP) participation in the defense of the county’s historic ban on any new frac sand operations. Attorneys with Minneapolis corporate law firms Larkin Hoffman and Faegre Baker Daniels have filed objections to LSP’s intent to intervene in the…  Read More

Who is Attacking the Winona County Frac Sand Ban?

Last fall, the Land Stewardship Project’s organizing efforts won a major victory when the Winona County Board in southeastern Minnesota banned any new frac sand operations in the county’s jurisdiction. In recent years, outside interests have been seeking to strip-mine and haul away silica sand from beneath southeastern Minnesota hills, bluffs and farmland to use…  Read More

Anatomy of a Grassroots Campaign

How citizens in one Minnesota county put values into action to attain a win for the land and their community. On November 22, 2016, history was made in southeastern Minnesota’s Winona County when the Board of Commissioners there passed a ban on any new frac sand operations. It is the first known countywide ban on…  Read More

Change Comes from the Ground Up

As the staff and member-leaders of the Land Stewardship Project conduct our organization’s work for stewardship and justice on the land, the central concept that keeps arising is “change comes from the ground up.” Whether the subject is farming practices, public policy or community vitality, thinking about positive change in this way is enormously helpful…  Read More

People Power Wins in Winona County

NOTE: At the Land Stewardship Project’s event celebrating the passage of the Winona County frac sand ban in southeastern Minnesota, LSP Winona County Organizing Committee members reflected on their involvement and the work that went into organizing the successful campaign for a ban. Committee member Cathy Groebner of St. Charles, Minn., gave these remarks at…  Read More

Stand Up for Standing Rock & Call the White House Today

Now is a critical time for we at the Land Stewardship Project to stand with the Standing Rock Sioux, who are resisting the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. We need to take action with them in their fight and end the construction of this pipeline. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the governor…  Read More

To Blitz or Not to Blitz

As spring gathers momentum, so does planning for the 2015 Simon Lake BioBlitz, which is being held July 10-11 at Sheepberry Fen in west-central Minnesota. And along with the planning come the questions: What is it? Why have it? Why should I come? The answers to those questions crash down in a tidal wave of…  Read More