DURAND, Wis. — The Pepin County Board of Supervisors is expected to vote Wednesday evening whether to ban the mining and processing of silica sand in 12 miles of bluffland along Lake Pepin.
The county's Law Enforcement Zoning Committee voted 3-1 June 12 to move the matter to the county board, said Darlene Brunner, board secretary.
The ordinance would cover an area from two miles south of Maiden Rock to the Chippewa River. The upper part of the area would cover land about 1,000 feet from the shore of Pepin to about a half mile from shore closer to the Chippewa, said Bill Mavity, a county commissioner representing that area.
He was one of the people who helped write the ordinance because it fears the area within the ordinance's boundary will lose some of its beauty and appeal to tourists. It already is getting many more trains coming through because of the mining and shipping of the sand in other parts of the state, he said.
The meeting Wednesday will begin at 7 p.m. at the county courthouse in Durand, Wis. There was no public comment at last week's meeting but comment will be accepted this Wednesday.
