Minnesota Appeals Court Upholds Winona County Frack Sand Ban

The Minnesota Court of Appeals on Monday upheld Winona County’s ban on mining frack sand, used to fracture shale rock to extract oil and natural gas.

In a split decision, a three-judge appeals panel affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of a lawsuit from a company that challenged the ordinance.

Minnesota Sands and a group of landowners argued the 2016 mining ordinance violates their constitutional rights by singling out sand used for industrial purposes, such as fracking, while allowing mining for local construction uses. But the appeals court rejected that argument, the La Crosse Tribune reported.

“A county ordinance that even-handedly bans all industrial-mineral mining, including silica-sand mining, within the county does not discriminate against interstate commerce,” Judge Renee L. Worke wrote in the majority opinion. MORE…