Bloomfield Approves Industrial Zoning for B8D Frack-Sand Site; Residents Warned

Bloomfield City Council approved changing a parcel along U.S. Highway 550 from agricultural to industrial zoning on Feb. 3, 2025 to accommodate B8D LLC’s proposal to mine and sell frack sand, a move described as unanimous on the Tri-City Record Facebook post published Feb. 6, 2025. The Tri-City Record published a detailed update on the project on Feb. 21, 2026 by Debi Tracy Olsen, showing an artist’s rendering alongside a current-site photograph and documenting sustained public opposition.

B8D principal Brock Brockinton appeared before the council in late 2024 and again in early 2025 and held two town hall meetings before the council vote, according to Tri-City Record reporting. By the time of the Feb. 3, 2025 approval, the company had already begun what the reporting calls significant site-grading work. Brockinton told the Tri-City Record that “There’s going to be some growing pains” as the project moves forward.

Water rights and supply are the central unresolved issue residents and officials identified. The parcel currently carries agricultural water rights; those rights would need to be converted to industrial use for full operations, a change that “would significantly limit the amount of water available to the site,” the reporting states. That conversion has not yet happened, and local residents raised concerns about water availability given the area’s propensity for drought during council and town hall meetings.

Brockinton told the Tri-City Record that B8D has been “very intermittently” pulling water from a nearby ditch and paying the City of Bloomfield for that water while the company and city negotiate next steps. The company also plans to donate a portion of the parcel to the City of Bloomfield for a reservoir, and Tri-City Record reporting notes that the proposed reservoir use “could require another change in water use.” Discussions between B8D and city officials about the donation and reservoir planning are ongoing, the article reports.

On-site activity has continued while regulatory and water-use questions remain. Tri-City Record reporting says water-clarifying equipment has arrived at the site, and Brockinton indicated the company hopes to get back on track with its original development schedule now that the equipment is in place. The company’s next stated tasks are to clean up water-holding areas in the back of the parcel so the site more closely resembles the planned facility, then evaluate surveying and preparation needed for the City of Bloomfield to build the donated reservoir.

Visuals accompanying the Feb. 21, 2026 Tri-City Record update contrast an artist’s rendering and today’s facility; the drawing is credited to B8D LLC and the current-site photo to Brad Ryan, with Mark Curry’s name appearing in the article’s image material. The Tri-City Record Facebook post on Feb. 6, 2025 recorded 14 reactions and one share and summarized the council action: “Bloomfield City Council on Monday unanimously approved a zoning change to accommodate B8D LLC’s plan for a sand facility to support fracking operations in the area.”

Key facts remain unanswered in public reporting: the parcel’s exact acreage and legal description, whether formal water-rights conversion filings have been submitted to the Office of the State Engineer, the terms and timeline for the planned land donation, and whether the pre-approval grading had necessary permits. For now, Bloomfield’s unanimous zoning vote on Feb. 3, 2025 cleared the way for B8D’s industrial plan even as water-use conversions, reservoir planning, and community resistance continue to shape the project’s next phase.