According to this letter to the editor which recently appeared in the Minnesota Daily, one UMN staffer argues that the mining which will occur prior to the University of Minnesota’s UMore Vision will eliminate a research center on the property requiring the University to spend upwards of $40 million to replace it.
From the letter:
The University will receive $1 per ton of gravel mined. To replace that research farm and facilities in the Metro region will require a minimum of $40 million. That is 40 million tons of gravel unaccounted for in the Daily story. If the mining were shifted to the eastern two-thirds of UMore Park where there is no major activity now, it would cost zero tons of gravel since no replacement farm and facilities would be required.
The total amount of aggregate estimated to be available on the UMore site totals approximately 400 million tons. Mr. Everett’s suggests that the University mine the remaining 2/3 of the site and reserve 1/3 for the research facility a move which would theoretically cost the University over $90 million if there is indeed 400 million tons of aggregate available to be mined.
While plenty within the community are not pleased with the mining plans according to the Minnesota Daily, the City of Rosemount is working to approve a plan which will work for residents and the University.
What do you think of the University’s plans to possibly do away with a research facility on the UMore site which would cost the University and possibly taxpayers $40 million to replace? Do you think that it’s wise to keep it on the site with the potential for revenue from the mining operations to exceed that of the cost of a new research facility? Are you concerned about the mining plans and how they will affect Rosemount and the surrounding suburbs as trucks travel the roads and aggregate is moved out? Whatever you have to say about the University of Minnesota’s on-going plans for UMore go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear what you have to say.
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November 18th, 2010 at 8:11 am
Stupid WordPress didn’t publish this on time. Sorry about that folks.
November 18th, 2010 at 8:26 am
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by LazyLightning.org, Bill Gleason. Bill Gleason said: RT @SouthMetroNews UMore Research Center Loss Will Cost Millions? http://ow.ly/3bCMp Dead Link??????? [...]
November 18th, 2010 at 11:13 am
I am not happy that to see the Mining Operation Plan I have to visit the offices of Umore Park. It should be available on their website. I am curious who the heck is Dakota Aggregates, LLC? Never heard of them before, so my guess is they are a group of existing aggregate operations.
The $1 per ton seems low to me for the material. If the gravel the pull out of the ground ends up being as high of a quality as they hope, that material will be very valuable. And as time goes on, the value will grow and grow as local gravel resources continue to dry up.
I don’t have any problem with loosing existing facilities to mine the area. It is my understanding that the future planes for Umore indicate that they would prefer not to work around existing structures and instead start with a clean slate.
November 19th, 2010 at 9:01 am
The $40 million cited is $40 million to replace the facility in the metro region. Maybe cost savings can be made with, say, a shift to the Morris campus, or perhaps Rochester? Maybe agricultural research should be conducted in a rural setting, rather than suburban, to better approximate real-life conditions.
November 21st, 2010 at 10:31 am
I think Barney and Fred might be able to find a job finally.