STE. GENEVIEVE – After a public meeting hosted by the opponents of the proposed NexGen Silica Sand Mine in Ste. Genevieve County; the proponents had a change to present their case in a public meeting hosted by the Missouri Department of Natural Resource Land Reclamation Program.
Larry Lehman heads up the land reclamation program. He said NexGen is seeking a state mining permit now, but before it can operate, there may be other permits that they will need to obtain in addition to the state mining permit.
“That permit just allows them to mine and conduct reclamation. It does not override it does not supersede or take precedence over any type of other local, state or federal regulation. NexGen is required to follow any type of local ordinance or state or federal regulation. If they are issued (the mining) permit, they are still required to follow any type of local, any other type of state regulation: air permit, water permit and any type of federal requirement: Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife or what have you. They are required to follow all the regulations.”
Roger Faulkner, a Ste. Genevieve resident who is heading up the project along with two of his sons, told the audience that NexGen Silica Sand will set a new standard for how silica sand mining is done.
“This matters to us. I have shared this story with a couple of people,…but when we went to Jeff City for the first time and we met with the DNR and…I also met with…the head of the DNR. I told him…’I want you to know this is very personal for me and my sons. This is not just another operation, this is not another business. This is our home. This is our family. These are the people that my children have (gone) to school with. These are people that I see at day-to-day activities. I want you to know something. What we’re going to show you and what we’re going to bring to you is not something that gets by, but we’re going to show you something that we believe will set the standard in the industry for mining silica sand.”
One of the concerns of the residents of the county who are opposed to the mine is the impact on the water table in the area.
Stan Schultz, a civil engineer with the firm, said they will get almost all of the water they need from rainfall on the site.
“We are going to be able to capture almost all of the water we need and operate this facility on site from two retention ponds (that collect rainfall)”, he said.
The meeting lasted more than three hours are attracted 250-300 persons.
A video of the full meeting has been viewed more than 700 times as of Sunday night and is available here: https://youtu.be/EGMWc6iMYbY