Pepin County (WQOW) - A seven-figure road use agreement has been reached between a county and frac sand company.
Last week, the Pepin County Highway Committee struck a deal with Greg Bechel Trucking and Excavating. That company operates a mine in the Town of Frankfort. Sand is then trucked to Pierce County.
The agreement requires the following: Bechel must give the county $1,000,000 in cash. The county will use that money to cover the cost of highway maintenance on routes used by sand trucks. As that fund is used, Bechel will have to put more money in. The agreement requires a $1 million minimum balance within a month of the county billing for work that's done. That balance must be maintained during the length of the agreement. Once the land reclamation process has wrapped up, the highway commissioner will examine the condition of the haul route and "do what is necessary to bring it back to a good condition." The county says the balance of the remaining funds will then be returned to Bechel.
Bechel must also pay the county a $30,000 administrative fee.
The agreement limits the company to no more than 80 loads a day and no more than a half a million tons of product a year. The company will have to prove it's meeting those requirements by submitting information to the county every month.
The highway committee says it believes the agreement will "protect county taxpayers from the costs required for improvements, repairs and maintenance made necessary by damage to county highways resulting from Bechel's frac sand operations."
To read more about the agreement, click on the link under "More Information" on this page.
