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Tag Archives: matt schmit

Frac sand limitations fail in Senate Finance Committee

The Senate Finance Committee turned down Sen. Matt Schmit's bid to amend frac sand legislation into the game and fish bill less than a week after it removed from the same bill by a different committee. However, Gov. Mark Dayton's administration has voiced strong support for Schmit's proposal, creating the potential for it to reemerge before session's end.

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Tomassoni says frac sand mining will have a “placeholder” in omnibus bill

Opponents of frac sand mining won’t likely see their favored moratorium in the Senate omnibus budget bill for the environment and natural resources. While the committee's chairman Sen. David Tomassoni said frac sand mining will be limited to a "placeholder" in the bill, he said the proposal's author Sen. Matt Schmit can pursue legislation outside the omnibus bill as the session heads for adjournment next month.

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Majority midterms: 10 frosh who shine

There’s an old adage at the Capitol that first-term legislators should be seen and not heard. St. Paul can take some getting used to, the thinking goes, and most issues debated at the Legislature are so complex that newcomers would do well to sit back quietly and learn.

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New frac sand proposal starts moving in the Senate

A new proposal has been added to the heap of bills to regulate frac sand mining. The Senate Environment and Energy Committee has passed a game and fish bill that would significantly restrict mining activities in southeastern Minnesota, which is rich in the silica sand that’s a key ingredient in the hydraulic fracturing technique of oil exploration that’s being pursued in western North Dakota.

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Sand in the gears

If DFL majorities in the Minnesota House and Senate are to act on the brewing issue of frac sand extraction, they will first have to overcome internal differences that yawn as large as an open-pit mine.

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