Ankney Blasts DNR Efforts

By MARK EVANS

STE. GENEVIEVE HERALD

Matt Ankney, owner of the “Save Hawn!” Facebook page, had two conversations with the Ste. Genevieve County Commission during commission meetings last week.

The first one, during the Monday, June 6 meeting ended with Presiding Commissioner Garry Nelson hanging up on him.

“He kept talking over me and wouldn’t allow me to answer his questions,” Nelson said. “I warned him that I was going to hang up. If he had come into the room and disrupted a meeting like that, he would have been removed.”

The Thursday conversation went somewhat smoother.

During the Thursday phone call, Ankney claimed that “Everything’s a charade; everything’s a sham” with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

Ankney is fighting against Nexgen Silica’s proposed silica sand mining operation along Highway 32. He has been thoroughly displeased with the NDR’s handling of the situation.

“In no way will they look at any environmental impact study,” he told the commissioners over speaker phone. “In no way will they look at anything harmed  by this mine before they approve it.”

He then said that the DNR “gets things all wrapped up in a nice little bow, where it’s locked water tight and then they look at the harm that it causes. To me, that’s unacceptable.”