Zoning permits for an industrial sand drying plant and railway loading station near Cochrane-Fountain City School were soundly rejected at a public hearing in Alma Tuesday night.
  
A 3-member Buffalo County Zoning Board of Adjustment voted unanimously to deny two permits sought by farmland owners from Texas and mining developer Glacier Sands.

Upwards of 250 people showed up for all or part of a six-hour public hearing inside a sweltering hot auditorium gym at Alma Area School.

A hundred people stuck it through to the end and cheered when the zoning board turned down the permits at 11:30 p.m.

Nearly 70 people offered hearing testimony and petitions signed by more than 600 people opposed to the project.
  
The C-FC School Board after a closed session meeting Monday night recommended the zoning board deny the permits.

Streams of people spoke out about air and water pollution health risks and worries about road safety due to heavy truck traffic.

Glacier Sands wanted permits to route up to 500 semi truckloads of sand daily to a proposed plant and railroad loading station on Kamrowski town road.

A railway spur adjacent to Bensel Pond and wetlands was proposed within 1,250 feet of school grounds and a drying plant some 2,800 feet away.

Buffalo County has so far issued zoning conditional-use permits for six sand mining operations, none of them yet operational.
  
The county has a 7-month moratorium in place on taking new applications for mining permits. It expires in October.