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Winona, Minn. – State lawmakers will hold hearings beginning this week to address the fast-growing frac sand industry and its effect on Minnesota.

Made of silica, the sand is used in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to extract natural gas and oil from the ground.

Although local lawmakers are grappling with how to zone and regulate the industry, rules differ widely throughout the state. Many local officials would welcome streamlined state regulations.

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Rochester, Minn. – Some residents in Red Wing say their mayor, Dennis Egan, should not have accepted a job with a lobbying group for the silica sand industry.

Egan is now also the executive director of the newly created Minnesota Industrial Sand Council. It’s a group of companies with interests in silica sand mining — a quickly growing industry that is also creating controversy in a number of cities and counties in southeastern Minnesota, including Red Wing.