Let the Rochester Post-Bulletin & Gov. Dayton know TODAY

 Dear Friends and Neighbors,

   It is time to speak up ....and we can do it from home, thanks to this heads-up from Land Stewardship Project.

Wishing you well,

Bonita

Let the Rochester Post-Bulletin know TODAY that you support Gov. Datyon enacting a two year moratorium on frac sand mining in southeast Minnesota

The Rochester Post-Bulletin is asking its readers if they support a two year moratorium on frac sand mining. They are going to run responses on March 1. Send your comments in TODAY to letters@postbulletin.com. Limit your remarks to 200 words or less, and include your name and city of residence.  Be sure to say in your letter: “I support Governor Dayton enacting a two year moratorium to protect southeast Minnesota.” Please, send me a copy of your letter at mailto:bking@landstewardshipproject.org and let me know if we can post ii on our website after March 1. Forward this email widely.

Here are some suggestions for a letter: 

·         Tell your story.  Why is it important to YOU as a resident, farmer, or business person in southeast Minnesota?

·         Gov. Dayton has said he supports a ban on frac sand mining in southeast Minnesota because of our fragile karst geology.  This is the right approach.

·         Our economy in southeast Minnesota is dependent on agriculture and tourism.  This is incompatible with the frac sand industry. That is why I support Governor Dayton enacting a two year moratorium to protect our area.

·         Some are saying, “Let the state regulation passed last year do its job.”  But these regulations are over a year away from being developed.  We need protection now. That’s why a moratorium is necessary.

·         We have seen from Wisconsin that the frac sand industry pollutes air and water, destroys roads, and has no respect for regulation.  Why would we want this in Minnesota?

More details: The Rochester Post-Bulletin ran this story: Legislative leaders uninterested in pursuing silica-sand mining ban and now they are asking what citizens think.  We know the effort to stop frac sand mining has been a grassroots movement led by citizens and citizens want a moratorium.  All the local ordinances, campaigns to stop specific mines and state legislation have been accomplished through grassroots organizing.  That is how we will win a moratorium in southeast.

From the Rochester Post-Bulletin: Your Turn: Moratorium on frac sand mines? Legislative leaders on both sides of the political aisle have indicated little interest in a statewide moratorium on the creation of new silica-sand mines. Still, foes of frac-sand mining in Minnesota say they'll ask Gov. Mark Dayton to impose a two-year moratorium through an executive order. What's your take? Should Minnesota ban the opening of new frac-sand mines, or are the rules passed last year by the Legislature sufficient to protect the state's groundwater and air quality? Send your comments toletters@postbulletin.com. Limit your remarks to 200 words or less, and include your name and city of residence. We'll publish these comments March 1, but anonymous submissions will not be published.

Bobby King

Land Stewardship Project

612-722-6377

Sign LSP’s Petition for Effective Action to Protect MN from the Frac Sand Industry

Presentation in Rochester environmental and public health impacts of hydraulic fracturing (a.k.a. fracking)

On April 11 (7pm) and April 12 (1pm) 

Wes Wilson will be giving a presentation 

at Assisi Heights in Rochester, MN, 

on the environmental and public health impacts of hydraulic fracturing (a.k.a. fracking). 

Frac sand mining, processing, and transportation are aspects of this extreme energy extraction practice we are facing in our region; this is a chance to learn more about the impacts on and risks to communities at the other end of the process. 

The same talk will be given at two times, 7:00 pm, Friday, April 11, and 1:00 pm, Saturday, April 12. Wilson is a retired geological engineer and Environmental Protection Agency whistleblower, featured in the film Gasland. The presentations are free and open to the public, but registration is requested; please see the attached flyer for details. 

This event is co-sponsored by the Sisters of Saint Francis of Rochester, the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration of La Crosse, and Land Stewardship Project. 

Please feel free to share this blog entry and flyer with others who would be interested.

Johanna

Johanna Rupprecht

Policy Organizer

Land Stewardship Project

507-523-3366

jrupprecht@landstewardshipproject.org

Here's a thought...

When California comes looking to buy water, are we going to say, "Hey, we've got great water here! You will pay us a lot of money," or are we going to sigh, and say, "No, we don't have any water to sell you that is uncontaminated by frac sand mining. You'll have to go give your money to someone else."

'Let's Talk About Sand' in Lanesboro

February 25, 7 pm-8:30 pm

• Commonweal Theatre, Lanesboro, MN

The Dreamery Rural Arts Initiative of Wykoff in collaboration with Heart of the Beast Puppet Theatre of Minneapolis presents a public tour of “Let’s Talk About Sand,” a performance event encouraging discussion about the frac-sand mining industry. The tour takes place in public venues throughout southeastern Minnesota the last week in February. All events are free and open to the public.

What: Let’s Talk About Sand, a free public performance and community discussion

What:  Let’s Talk About Sand, a free public performance and community discussion

Where/ When: Zumbrota Public Library, Zumbrota, MN February 24, 4pm

                        Cannon Falls Public Library, Cannon Falls, MN Feb. 24, 6:30pm

                        Commonweal Theatre, Lanesboro, MN Feb. 25, 7pm

                        Decorah Public Library, Decorah, Iowa, Feb. 26 6:30pm

                        Spring Valley Public Library, Spring Valley, MN, Feb. 27 6:30pm

                        Chatfield Public Library, Chatfield, MN, Feb. 28 6:30pm

Cost: none

Performance Tour Encourages Discussion about Frac-Sand Mining

        The Dreamery Rural Arts Initiative of Wykoff in collaboration with Heart of the Beast Puppet Theatre of Minneapolis presents a public tour of “Let’s Talk About Sand,” a performance event encouraging discussion about the frac-sand mining industry.  The tour takes place in public venues throughout southeastern Minnesota the last week in February.  All events are free and open to the public.

            Let’s Talk About Sand features a fun, 15-min performance of “What the Frack?”, “What the Frack?” is done as a “Cantastoria,” a performance style using hand-painted imagery and live music.  The show is both informational and poetic, and includes time for audience input.  Performers are Spring Valley/Wykoff residents  and Heart of the Beast veterans.

            Let’s Talk About Sand also includes a screening of excerpts from the documentary The Price of Sand, by Jim Tittle (http://www.thepriceofsand.com/).  Focusing on community actions in the Mississippi River Valley in eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin, regions contending with recent frac-sand mining ventures, The Price of Sand exposes many of the human and environmental issues the industry raises.

            The event winds up with an open forum discussion during which participants will be invited to express views on or ask questions about the issues raised in the performance and the film.  This is a family-friendly event lasting 60-90 minutes.

For more information, please contact your local venue.  The Dreamery Rural Arts Initiative is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to supporting and expanding arts experiences in rural Fillmore County.  Visit the website at www. dreameryruralartsinitiative.org.

Contact:  Eva Barr

   17289 County Rd.8

   Wykoff, MN 55990

   507-352-4255     

   etcsbarr@gmail.com

We the People Are More Powerful Than We Dare to Believe

The Community Rights Alliance of Winneshiek County, Iowa is pleased to announce its third hosting of the workshop We the People Are More Powerful Than We Dare to Believe: First Steps in Dismantling Corporate Rule March 7-9, 2014 in Decorah, Iowa

Whether your community is fighting frac sand mining or some of the many other and increasing threats to our local communities, what you learn at this workshop could change everything.   Register now at Becoming We the People.   Here's what past participants have to say:   "I came away from this workshop feeling like I know how to be a better citizen of my country. Paul opened my eyes to parts of our country's history that saddened me, and parts that really inspired me too.  I have a clearer understanding of why everyday people often feel powerless to make change for a better world.  And I now know what we can do about that.  Paul renewed my interest in participating in governance that is truly of, for, and by the people."  "I was impressed with the democratic vision of the community rights movement.  It's easy to lose faith in democracy when you only watch it operating on the very large, corporate-controlled scale of the federal and even state government--it's much easier, and much more exciting, to imagine democracy among neighbors, in local communities claiming the right to local control.  Paul's history of the United States through the lens of corporate personhood rights helped me to understand why I was skeptical about our large-scale "democracy", and I appreciated the discussion of decolonizing our minds from corporate control.  I believe it's time to put the rights of human beings and of the earth on a higher priority than the rights of corporations, and I'm grateful to Paul for showing us a path to making that happen!"  "a very enlightening weekend. I found out where my fear of large corporations comes from and how--with compassionate informed neighbors--we can move forward to demand a more just land."  "Wanting a better world for my daughters convinced me to attend Paul's training.  I moved from feeling ignorant, to oppressed, to empowered.  We can build a world that holds the interest of ourselves, our children, our whole Earth Community at the forefront.  And there are other communities leading the way!  Join me!" "I have been very sad for a very long time, seeing our personal lives, our health and our world threatened by all of the corporate harms we seem so powerless to affect. And for the first few hours in the workshop, Paul's history of our democracy-- and how it has been, from the beginning, torn asunder by a system stacked in favor of corporations-- brought back all of the sadness and helplessness. But it also made me realize this sadness is a natural response to what we and our non-human allies have been experiencing. And the workshop didn't end there; it provided us with tools to work on the local level to protect our natural environment (which is what sustains us after all is said and done). It inspires me to think of coming together with friends and neighbors (and the friends I haven't met yet in my community). And I could see potential for networks of communities coming together to weave a web of protection. Now I see what Paul was talking about happening all over the world. There are no guarantees, but there never have been. It gives us a challenge worth taking on." More at Becoming We the People