JEFFERSON CITY — Ste. Genevieve County residents who traveled to the Capitol on Monday to push for legislation to stop a proposed silica sand mine were met with a wall of opposition from lobbyists for business groups.
Members of the citizens group Operation Sand, wearing green T-shirts, filled a House hearing room as members of the House Rural Community Development Committee considered a plan by Rep. Rick Francis, R-Perryville, that he said would “prohibit the mining of silica sand in a small western portion of Ste. Genevieve County.â€
Members of Operation Sand, since learning of the project last year, have organized against it, citing its proximity to area residents and possible effects on air and water.
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Roger Faulkner, partner of the company, NexGen Silica, said Monday that the industrial sands he is seeking on the 249-acre site are used in “critical†products, including semiconductors.
The legislation “seems to target only our company,†Faulkner said. “We are concerned about the precedent that this bill sets by circumventing the existing process.â€
After Faulkner, representatives of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Associated Industries of Missouri, the Missouri Limestone Producer’s Association and the Associated General Contractors of Missouri stood up to oppose Francis’ measure.
“Our opposition is really predicated on some work we’re doing right now to help onshore the supply chain for semiconductor manufacturing,†said Kara Corches, lobbyist for the Missouri Chamber of Commerce. “Missouri does have a real opportunity to be a driver in critical mineral mining.â€
“We also have longstanding policy to oppose any patchwork of regulations related to environmental laws,†Corches said.
While a prior version of the legislation allowed county commissions and health boards to regulate mining operations, a more recent version strips the language, applying the silica mining restriction to the portion of western Ste. Genevieve County in question, Francis said.
Francis and Democrats on the committee poked at the bill’s opposition.
“This hearing was scheduled a week ago, and we put it off a week because we were trying to address some of the concerns that some of the suits had out in the hallway with their hair on fire,†Francis said.
Rep. Michael Burton, the Lakeshire Democrat who led a fight to stop a planned housing development at the Tower Tee golf course site in south ºüÀêÊÓƵ County, encouraged the Ste. Genevieve County group to persist.
“Not a single community member that is opposed to this bill showed up today — not a single one,†he said. “It was a bunch of people with fancy suits and fancy ties.â€
Said Rep. Adrian Plank, a Columbia Democrat, “Their local control needs to overrule big business.â€
Residents from Ste. Genevieve County, including nearby residents Jillian Ditch Anslow and Chris Eckenfels, two leaders of Operation Sand, testified to the committee in support of Francis’ bill.
John Donze, who said he lives within four-tenths of a mile from the proposed site, said he and his wife had lived at their residence on Highway 32 for 48 years.
He said he and his brother bought a farm 45 years ago and that Establishment Creek flows through the property. The headwaters of the creek are located at the mine site area.
“As children, we grew up with our creek. We played, we swam,†Donze said. He said more than 20 years ago, his father, brother and uncle spotted an eagle flying over the creek.
He said a friend, the late Walter Crawford, founder of the World Bird Sanctuary, told him “for eagles to be that far away from the Mississippi River, you had to have fish in your creek.†Donze asked about ducks, and Crawford said eagles also prey on ducks.
“We’re seeing eagles, and we’re seeing more eagles,†he said.
“I’m afraid for our creek,†Donze said. “You have no water, you have no ducks, you have no fish, you have no eagles. And in the end you have no children playing in the creek.â€
Lawmakers didn’t vote on the bill Monday.
Residents began organizing against the project last year. The county approved an ordinance outlawing mining on the property, which the company is challenging in court. A public meeting on the plan was held in May.
The Department of Natural Resources granted NexGen Silica a surface mining permit in June, but the Missouri Mining Commission rescinded it in January.
The legislation is .