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Frac-sand mining in western and central Wisconsin is now increasing at an alarming rate thanks to an oil and natural gas drilling boom that uses a process known as hydraulic fracturing, also called fracking. The mined sand, along with a lot of water and chemicals, is pumped far below the surface to force the trapped oil and gas up to where it can be collected.

Wisconsin, fortunately, has no such fracking wells, for the state lacks major oil and gas deposits. What we do have is lots of the sort of sand the frackers need and we’ve got it conveniently near the surface. The hydraulic fracturing method of fossil fuel extraction is proving to be an ecological curse to many areas of the nation, and the sand mining that supports it is a growing threat to Wisconsin.

Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources recently announced that it will not specifically regulate crystalline silica, the fine, potentially hazardous particles that are released into the air during sand mining operations. As the Journal Sentinel reported:

Because silica emissions are a subset of particle emissions, which are regulated, the DNR said it is very likely that control measures for particle pollution will adequately control silica.

But a report last July by the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism noted that the DNR had allowed most sand mines to operate without any particle emissions monitoring and that the agency said it ”lacks the expertise and resources” to monitor the smaller particles produced by frac-sand mining. So even if the DNR now generally controls for dust and particles, as the Journal Sentinel reports, it can’t count the finer silica particles.

Therefore, contrary to what the DNR now asserts, it appears very unlikely that silica from sand mines is being adequately monitored and controlled.

Texas and California both seem to have acquired the expertise and resources to monitor and regulate silica from sand mines, according to the WCIJ report. If they can do it, why can’t we? (Both states have huge budget deficits, by the way.)

The DNR has said that it would take 3 to 5 years to establish state regulations for silica. As a famous tennis player from Queens liked to say– You cannot be serious.

The DNR admitted in December 2010 that long-term exposure to crystalline silica from nearby sand mining is possibly dangerous to human health but said not enough scientific monitoring has occurred to really know.

By September 2011 the DNR and Dept. of Health Services were saying that there is no published evidence for harm from “intermittent or occasional exposure.” But how do we know the exposure for nearby residents to the air-borne silica is not more than occasional? Lacking data and time, how about using the silica standard set by Texas or California? But the DNR won’t do the proper silica monitoring anyway (ignorance being bliss), so it is giving the sand miners the benefit of the doubt and gambling with our health.

Other issues with sand mining include the stripping away of top soil, noise and light pollution, possible groundwater disruptions, heavy truck traffic and threats to the rare and endangered Karner blue butterfly.

State Sen. Kathleen Vinehout has recently introduced two bills that would allow for adequate public notice of a a sand mine proposal and restrict sand mines to  agricultural areas. The second bill would also prevent sand mining near residential neighborhoods. Better than nothing, but it seems to me that agriculture is a much better use of agricultural land. What is really needed is a state-wide frac-sand mining moratorium. Some counties in Wisconsin have already passed such moratoriums.

The more we learn about hydraulic fracturing and frac-sand mining, the more we will come to understand just how dangerous and dumb is our continuing investment in fossil fuels and the relatively few jobs these dirty fuels provide.

UPDATE: For a great review of two books on the subject of “fracking”, as well as a good argument against the practice, see this review/essay by Bill McKibben.

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