Local governments show some resistence to sand mining

by Phil Picardi, Minnesota Public Radio,
Elizabeth Baier, Minnesota Public Radio

Two city councils are putting pressure on the Goodhue County board to temporarily block a new kind of mining in the county. Red Wing and Lake City passed symbolic measures this week opposing the potential mining of so-called "frack sand" in their area. The sand would be dug up near Red Wing and used elsewhere in the country for a controversial way of geting oil and gas out of the ground known as fracking. Goodhue County is expected to take up a proposed one-year moratorium on sand mining in the coming weeks.

MPR's Phil Picardi spoke with Minnesota Public Radio news reporter Elizabeth Baier, who talked about that and other news in southeastern Minnesota. She spoke from our bureau in Rochester.

Broadcast Dates

• Morning Edition, 08/24/2011, 8:45 a.m.