RAIL SIDING BEING BUILT NEAR LA CRESCENT FRAC SAND MINING IN HOUSTON COUNTY IMMINENT.

For Immediate Release:                       For More Information; Contact

Sunday, January 11, 2015                   Bruce Kuehmichel 507-450-9519

                                                              jackym@acegroup.cc

                                                              Ken Tschumper 507-894-4248

                                                              ktschump@aegroup.cc

 

 

RAIL SIDING BEING BUILT NEAR LA CRESCENT

FRAC SAND MINING IN HOUSTON COUNTY IMMINENT.

                                       

 

Activists concerned about increased railroad traffic in the La Crosse Area and the possibility of frac sand mining beginning in Houston County discovered today that the Canadian Pacific Railroad began construction in the last couple days on a new rail siding just south of La Crescent at Miller’s Corner near the Intersection of State HWY 16 and County HWY 26.

 

Bruce Kuehmichel of Citizens Acting for Rail Safety (CARS) and Ken Tschumper of Houston County Protectors (HCP) have documented the long rumored expansion late this afternoon with photos of the site. (see attached photos)

 

“The photos of this construction verify the rumors that we have been hearing since last  summer that CP would soon be building a siding near Miller’s Corner to be followed shortly by a railroad loading facility to load frac sand coming from Houston County” said Kuehmichal.

 

The ramifications of the CP build out are serious. “Three years ago Houston

County citizens were assured that silica frac sand mining would not and could not occur

because there were no railroad loading facilities close enough to make it economical. But not now”, Tschumper pointed out.

 

This is another example of the Mississippi River Transportation Corridor undergoing enormous expansion of rail transport on both sides of the river. Last Tuesday, the Wisconsin DNR held a hearing on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe permit request to build a second track through the La Crosse Marsh. Over 160 local citizens heard the nearly unanimous request by dozens of speakers that the WDNR conduct an Environmental Impact Study for the Marsh. A parallel request for an entire Upper Mississippi River Valley Environmental Impact Statement was also voiced by a majority of concerned speakers.

 

“It’s really ironic that this project was started just a few days ago”, Tschumper said. “Last Tuesday, Houston County Officials held a Public Hearing on a proposed Amendment to the County’s Zoning Ordinance that would have allowed unlimited frac sand mining in the hills and valleys of our area. Yet every single person who spoke at the Hearing condemned the proposed Ordinance and half of the speakers asked the Commissioners to ban frac sand mining all together.”

 

Kuehmichal mentioned that the Houston County Commissioners have until mid-March to act on the issue of frac sand mining before a three year moratorium expires.

 

“Wherever frac sand mining has occurred, county and township roads have been destroyed, ground water polluted, property values diminished, air quality compromised, reclamation costs dumped on tax payers, and the scenic beauty and tourism severely damaged”, Kuehmichal stressed, “ and now we are seeing firsthand how frac sand mining will adversely affect our wetlands as well”.

 

“With a railroad loading facility at Miller’s Corner and five frac sand mines already proposed for the Root River Valley, Highway 16 will become a Frac Sand Mining Corridor with literally hundreds of dump trucks going back and forth seven days a week, just like in Wisconsin”, Tschumper observed. “We need the Houston County Commissioners to do what a majority of county residents want and that is to ban frac sand mining now”.