Long-term WI sand deal shows out-of-state firms' clout

The long-term impact of sand mining on Wisconsin's environment wrought by faraway forces brings to mind Bob Dylan's "Only a pawn in their game" song title and lyric:

...a frac sand company in Wisconsin has purchased an estimated 94 million tons worth of sand reserves in Jackson County. 

Texas-based Superior Silica Sands has finalized the agreement with Performance Technology, an Oklahoma company that had previously held the property, leases and permits for the reserves. Superior Silica CEO Rick Shearer said they'll mine the sand and sell it back to Performance — which specializes pumping the high pressure mixture of sand, water and chemicals into oil and gas wells — at a discount rate once the market recovers. 

Plenty more information, here.

Wisconsin towns are taking strong stands to protect themselves against sand mining as state controls have given way to watered-down laws and disinterested, ideologically-motivated (even absent) DNR oversight.

A frac sand company in Barron County hoping to mine sand below the groundwater table was rebuffed by a local town board... 

The state Department of Natural Resources doesn’t prohibit the practice, nor do some counties. 

Frac sand, like iron ore in NW Wisconsin and the Lake Superior watershed-cum-massive-pig farm and now municipal water and sewer systems statewide is one of several Wisconsin resources enabled by our corporatized state government and targeted for exploitation for outsiders' private gain.

Our commonly-held resources are up for sale without our permission, in a rigged game.