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Beautiful Wisconsin may be lost to sand

Beautiful Wisconsin: We all recognize those words, it’s what we hear about and read about. People come here to enjoy our natural resources, the land and the water. Beautiful Wisconsin.

Now things are changing. The hills and bluffs are disappearing, productive farm land gone, hauled away in trucks and trains. It’s all about sand, silica sand.

No one wants to use the word frac when talking about silica sand available in Waupaca County and some people are even denying we have frac sand. Well, we do and it’s for sale.

If you don’t believe that take a look at what the ‘sand processing’ plant in Readfield recently sold for millions of dollars. Then notice there is 80 acres nearby with an asking price of $2 million. No, it’s not a productive farm with buildings. It’s an old abandoned gravel pit that contains that special sand that wasn’t valuable before and now is. Welcome to frac sand, industrial sand. A far cry from your grandfather’s pit.

Currently Waupaca County has an ad hoc committee meeting to form ordinances that will controlnon-metallic mining. Several members of this group are in favor of industrial sand mining.

We need to recognize what this means to the people. Mining is not going well in Wisconsin. Read about what is happening in the western part of our state. If you believe in beautiful Wisconsin you will not like what you see.

A group called “Preserve Waupaca County” continues to fight and protect what we have. They filed an appeal with the county to overturn the Gelhar Mine Permit It’s a David and Goliath battle.

For information you can contact the group at [email protected] or follow us on Facebook where we are found at Preserve Waupaca County.

There is a sign hanging above the podium in the Waupaca County Board room. It says ” Waupaca County government exists to provide services that empower and protect residents and guests.” I would suggest we all remind our elected or appointed officials what it says.

Tania Wadzinski

Manawa

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