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Two weeks after Gov. Scott Walker visited a frac sand company in western Wisconsin to celebrate an expansion, Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen entered a settlement withthe company for violating state environmental laws.

But unlike three other cases where sand mining companies paid fines for violating state regulations, the Justice Department didn't issue a news release detailing the agreement with Hi-Crush Proppants LLC, which agreed to pay $52,500 in forfeitures on June 5, according to records filed in Eau Claire County Circuit Court.

"It certainly raises my eyebrows and it certainly seems like there's politics behind it," said Anne Sayers, program director of the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters.

Walker's and Van Hollen's offices both say no.

Sand mines have mushroomed across western Wisconsin in recent years, and with them have come new jobs and hundreds of millions in new investment. But with the growth has come worries about air emissions from mines and processing plants and effects on ground and surface water.

Walker visited a Hi-Crush sister facility on May 22 in Whitehall in Trempealeau County to attend the opening of a new sand mining production plant. The plants are owned by Hi-Crush Partners, a publicly traded limited partnership headquartered in Houston.

The governor praised Hi-Crush for "delivering a high-quality product" while "maintaining a positive relationship with the Wisconsin communities surrounding their facilities." He was joined by the mayors of Whitehall and Independence.

He told the crowd, "We can balance our strong commitment to maintaining clean water, clean land, and clean air with an operation investing in Wisconsin, building on our economy, and creating good, family-supporting jobs."

By then, an enforcement action involving a Hi-Crush plant in Augusta was almost completed, according to court documents.

In addition to Hi-Crush, Thein Well Co. of Spicer, Minn., paid $16,000 in forfeitures — both for constructing high-capacity wells without approval.

Mark Skolos, general counsel of Hi-Crush, said the problems were caused by a miscommunication between a consultant and the well driller. The wells were decommissioned, and Skolos said monitoring equipment shows no harm to groundwater.

Industry criticized

The League of Conservation Voters and other environmental groups have been critical of the industry, whose sand is used in a controversial technique known as "fracking," to extract oil and natural gas. One chief worry: The threat posed by emissions from crystalline silica, a component of sand and a human carcinogen.

Records show the DNR has initiated 22 enforcement cases against sand companies since March 2012.

Of those, four cases were eventually referred to the Justice Department. All companies agreed to pay forfeitures. The Justice Department issued news releases and provided court documents in the other three cases.

Sayers wondered whether Walker's and Van Hollen's offices were concerned that, in an election year, news of Hi-Crush's problems and Walker's appearance would later be exploited by critics, so the Justice Department held off on issuing a statement.

Government should be more transparent, especially on enforcement cases, she said.

"Walker extols the virtues of polluting companies while hiding the fact that the problems they're creating are harming the health and property values of citizens of communities and hurting small business," Sayers said.

Dana Brueck, spokeswoman for Van Hollen, said she has a simple reason for why she didn't issue a release: She didn't have the time.

In an email, Brueck said: "I had no communications with the governor's office regarding Hi-Crush. This office makes decisions related to DOJ news releases. I do not issue a news release on every case that the DOJ handles, and as I mentioned, by the time I could issue a release, it was dated."

In a separate email, Walker spokeswoman Laurel Patrick said: "DOJ is responsible for issuing news releases. We did not advise them on their decision to not issue a statement."

'Green' status for mine

In another sand mine case, the DNR said it has received more than 1,200 comments from the public opposed to a bid by Smart Sand Inc. to become part of agency's Green Tier program. Smart Sand has capacity to remove more than 1 million tons of sand annually at a facility in Oakdale, in Monroe County.

Green Tier is a form of environmental regulation that provides companies with more flexibility. In return, the companies agree to exceed state environmental standards.

The League of Conservation Voters is fighting Smart Sand's request because the company was issued a notice of violation in 2012 after an inspection showed, among other violations, the company was using improper equipment to control dust.

Records also show the company was removing top soil at a rate 10 times higher than permitted, creating potentially higher emissions of particle pollution.

"This undermines the entire point of the Green Tier program," said the league's Sayers.

The program requires a "strong environmental compliance record," according to the DNR. An applicant can have no recent civil or criminal penalties and no DNR citations.

Laurel Sukup, section chief of business development at the DNR, said no other application has generated so many comments in the past decade.

But Sukup said notices of violations are the lowest level of enforcement and the company addressed its problems. By state law, a company can't be rejected for such violations, she said.

"Smart Sand is a professional company that is always concerned about the environment and is working hard to go above and beyond regulatory standards," Robert Kiszka, vice president of business operations, said in a statement.