TOWN OF COOKS VALLEY
SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING
October 1, 2014

 

A special town board meeting was called to order by Chairman Darrel Fehr on Wednesday October 1, 2014 at the Cooks Valley Town Hall located at 15751 40th Street at 8:00 pm.  Officers in attendance:  Darrel Fehr-chairman, David Clements-supervisor, Victoria Trinko-clerk.  Steve Schimmel-representative for Chippewa Sands

Review of Chippewa Sand Non-Metallic Mining permit with Public Comment:   Due to the dust continuing to blow off the piles of sand at Chippewa Sands mine, the recent leakage from the retaining ponds at the Dennis Schindler [EOG] mine, and the hours of trucks arriving and leaving from the Chippewa Sands mine prompted these questions from Victoria Trinko at Chippewa Sands Annual Review.

  1. Do you water the piles of sand?  Yes
  2. What do you use to water the piles of sand?  The water soaked sand from the washing is placed on top of the piles of sand.  There is a hose used to spray the piles of sand.
  3. How often do you water the piles of sand?  As often as needed
  4. Who waters the piles of sand?  The person in charge at the time.
  5. Which piles of sand are watered?  The waste piles are the ones watered.  Chairman Darrel Fehr commented that sand blew over to his place last summer and requested the waste pile be lowered [not as steep] to ease the blowing off that pile.  Victoria Trinko commented dust was observed blowing off the piles on August 24, 2014 by CCRH members while shocking oats in the field across from the mine site.
  6. How high are the piles of slurry? They are maintained at a level where one pond flows into the next pond and so on [Weir system] so there is no overflow. 
  7. Will the rains affect the level of the ponds of slurry?  No, the flow from one pond to the other deals with the level of the ponds and accommodates the amounts of rain fall.
  8. How do you maintain the level in the ponds of slurry?  The level of each pond goes to the next pond to maintain the level of all the ponds.
  9. Where do you dispose of the liquid in the slurry ponds?  The liquid is reused until it needs to be added to the freshwater pond.  Some is lost to evaporation.

10. How much polyacrylymide treated water is leached out of the washing sand process?  The water is soaked down into the drain tiles below the mine plant and drained back into the freshwater pond.
11. How do you dispose of the polyacrylymide treated sand that is not in the piles of sand?  The sand in the ponds are scooped out of the ponds and piled up to be used for reclamation. 
12. Who designed the ponds?  SEH
13. What are the hours of mining operations?  The mine operates 24/7.
14. What are the hours of trucking operations?  The trucks haul from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm Monday through Friday and 6:00 am till 2:00 pm.  Victoria Trinko commented trucks are arriving as early as 5:00 am into the mine site.  Steve Schimmel reported there are check out times at the scales and no trucks leave the mine before 6:00 am.  Victoria Trinko commented that her understanding of Saturday trucking was to occur only when weather or breakdown interfered with the normal operation on weekdays.  Steve Schimmel commented there is a lot of material to be hauled so trucking operations occur on Saturday.  Different amounts of trucks are used during the trucking operation.
15. Is reclamation being done?  Yes.  David Clements asked, “Will you be putting trees in the reclamation plan?”  Chippewa Sands will be working with UW-River Falls and land conversation with projects of sowing prairie grass, distributing acorns via manure spreaders to encourage trees, and the planting of pines.  The land owners have expressed a desire for a pond but this is not a definite piece of the reclamation process. 
16. What is the progress of the reclamation?  Reclamation has begun on the Round Hill and will proceed in a westerly fashion.  A  Plate Press system will make bricks from the washed sand and other sand and set aside to make a more solid soil for reclamation.  Chippewa Sands has not hauled in other material from other sites to use for reclamation.  The Round hill will not be as steep as it was originally as the land conservation office has stipulated a 3:1 slope for reclamation.   Bonding for reclamation is recalculated every year with a ratio to the amount of acres open.   There was discussion of expansion of the mine into adjoining properties. 
Adjourn:  Darrel Fehr made the motion to adjourn at 8:43 pm.  David Clements seconded the motion.  The motion carried 2-0.

 
 Typed:  October 7, 2014                          Respectfully submitted
 Approved: October 20, 2014                   Victoria Trinko -Town Clerk