County’s frac lawyer lauds ‘no mandamus’ call

MINNEAPOLIS — Courts throughout the legal saga to protect Winona County from the ravages of frac-sand mining have made good decisions from Day One, said the attorney who defended the county’s ban all the way to the door of the U.S. Supreme Court. Jay Squires was hired by the county after the mining company Minnesota Sands sued that the County Board’s 2016 ban was unconstitutional. Squires is an environment and land-use lawyer with the Minneapolis law firm Rupp, Anderson, Squires & Waldspurger. The battle between Minnesota Sands and Winona County ended Monday when the U.S. Supreme County refused y to consider the case. The decision left lower-court decisions standing, all of which went against Minnesota Sands. The Court, in effect, confirmed the right of a local government to create safeguards that protect its people and the environment, Squires said. Almost a dozen lawyers touched he case, beginning in 2014 with volunteer attorneys for the Land Stewardship Project that opposed frac-mining schemes. A pivotal legal opinion came in 2016 from Karin Sonneman, the county attorney, who advised the County Board that a ban would be firmly rooted in constitutional law.

Earlier: Aspiring frac firm rehashes failed arguments