David Kramer’s news item was informative and enlightening regarding the environmental impact of shale-gas hydraulic fracturing (fracking). There is yet another environmental impact not mentioned: mining of the sand that is needed for fracking. In the past few years, energy companies have been leasing or purchasing land that holds the 500-million-year-old Jordan sandstone formation stretching across Minnesota and Wisconsin, beneath woodland, farmland, and bluffs. The silica sand from that formation is ideal for fracking. One company, Gulfport Energy, has access to 20 million tons of it.
At least three environmental problems attend the mining of sand from the Jordan formation. First, the topography of the land will be changed forever; the bluffs will be gone. Second, the dust from silica sand causes a variety of lung diseases, including cancer. Third, large trucks continually transporting the sand to wells in Texas and elsewhere will negatively affect the natural beauty and serenity of the area.
Sand mining is generally not well regulated at the state or federal level. Local citizens, cities, and counties have been questioning and opposing the massive mining operations, but city and county governments simply do not have the financial resources to contest the actions of large energy companies. Interested readers should see “Silica sand is the new gold” by Josephine Marcotty for the Star Tribune, online at http://www.startribune.com/local/123670439.html.
