| inbluevt | Date: Wednesday, 2013/07/03, 9:08 PM | Message # 1 | DMCA |
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Lost in the uproar over silica sand mining is a serious threat to Minnesota’s environmental-review procedures with potentially far-reaching implications. And it appears no one in state government or
our congressional delegation is taking this threat seriously.
In the historic Mississippi River town of Wabasha, a clever and aggressive Canadian sand company found a way to flout Minnesota’s environmental-review measures. They leased land from a railroad and then
claimed exemption from state and local review, using the railroad’s federal right of pre-emption over state and local zoning laws.
This longstanding privilege basically says that state and local governments
cannot restrict a railroad’s right to operate in interstate commerce.
In a cautionary tale for many communities in our region, this federal
exemption was honored in Wabasha. And, the same could happen anywhere a
railroad has a large enough rail yard to accommodate tenants and their
operations. In this case, a local government was overwhelmed by a
well-funded private company.
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Message edited by inbluevt - Wednesday, 2013/07/03, 9:09 PM |
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