I am happy to report that frac sand corporation Minnesota Sands, LLC, failed in its latest attempt to circumvent comprehensive environmental review (see the action alert below). Thanks to Minnesotans speaking up for the land and the health of our communities, the requirement of a comprehensive Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on a proposed massive frac… Read More →
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 →
As you may have heard, the stormy weather of this past weekend inflicted heavy damage on numerous Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms in the Minnesota-western Wisconsin region. The timing of the hail and heavy winds couldn’t have been worse—in many cases entire plantings were wiped out in a matter of minutes, decimating months of preparation… Read More →
Despite citizens’ calls from across the state, the Minnesota Senate sided with corporate interests and passed the Senate Omnibus Environment Finance Bill with a provision that will double the size factory farms can be before environmental review is required. Sen. Jason Isaacson offered an amendment to remove this bad provision from the bill, but it… Read More →
Reimagining Farm Policy that Puts People, Communities & the Land First The energy has been incredible. Over the past two months the federal policy team at the Land Stewardship Project has been holding Farm Bill listening meetings in Minnesota to discuss the upcoming 2018 Farm Bill. The central question has been: “What would make the… Read More →
The frac sand industry is pushing to roll back a law we won in 2013 that requires the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to create rules to control air pollution from frac sand facilities. LSP has documented that the frac sand industry routinely puts profit before respect for rules designed to protect neighbors’ health and the… Read More →
Dry Creek Farms has been farming certified organic crops since 2001 and presently consists of me and my wife Terri, along with our son Jared, who recently returned to the farm after attending college. We have registered Red Angus cattle and recently Jared has added Polled Herefords as well. The cattle are raised on an… Read More →
In Boone County, Iowa, fertile farmland stretches as far as the eye can see. But as our van of Land Stewardship Project members rounded the corner on a rural road, we saw a disturbing sight: miles of black, vacant land where the landscape has been shaved to make way for the Dakota Access Pipeline. On… Read More →
The Frac Sand Insider Conference is being held in La Crosse, Wis., today and tomorrow, with a projected 300 to 400 industry representatives expected to attend. Before the conference, the Alliance to Ban Frac Sand Mining and Address Climate Change, which the Land Stewardship Project belongs to, stated: “Banning frac sand mining is the goal… Read More →
Sometimes one has to lose something to gain an appreciation for just how valuable an asset it was. That thought came to mind during the last hearing of the 48-year-old Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Citizens’ Board, which was held June 23 in Saint Paul. It was the last hearing because just a few weeks prior… Read More →
