× Thanks for reading! Log in to continue. Enjoy more articles by logging in or creating a free account. No credit card required. Log in Sign up {{featured_button_text}}

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is allowing more frac sand mines to open even though it let its environmental regulations on the industry expire nine months ago because the rules didn’t adequately protect streams from pollution, a state water regulator has confirmed.

Over the last four years the DNR has approved more than 200 sand mining operations under a 2009 non-metallic mining permit that was designed to prevent pollution from gravel pits, not the sprawling sand extraction operations that each day ship hundreds of rail cars of silica sand to natural gas and oil drilling sites.

“The initial non-metallic mining permit did not contemplate these kinds of operations,” DNR water division administrator director Russ Rasmussen said.

The result has been spills of sand, silt, clay and chemicals into waterways, including some of the state’s pristine trout streams, as sand operators have failed to prevent rains from washing away sand piles or overwhelming storm water basins that collect contaminants.

Spills can smother valuable aquatic breeding grounds, damage fish gills, increase the likelihood of flooding by filling in stream channels, contribute to stream bank erosion, and degrade the recreational value of the water body.