Northwest Wisconsin is home to
beautiful lakes, great outdoor recreation, and now open pit frac sand mines.
Frac sand is used to help extract oil from the earth by pumping it deep into
the ground by hydraulic pumps where it is squeezed into shale. Here it occupies
fissures, where oil and natural gas can be extracted. (Save the Hills Alliance
Inc, 2011)
I grew up in Barron, a small town and
the county seat of Barron County which lies in Northwest Wisconsin. I have seen
firsthand what frac sand mines look like on the landscape, and I have been
doing some research on my own as to the effects that they are having on the
environment. Along with this I have read a few blog posts and I've come to the
conclusion that I'm not the only one who seems to feel that these frac mines
are a serious problem.
First off I want to start by
telling anyone who is not familiar with Barron County that tourism is one of
highest means of income for the county's economy. Now that the frac mines are
coming in it won't be for long. Once beautiful forests are now being clear cut
and frac mines are taking their places. As an avid outdoorsmen myself it
definitely draws concern. What concerns me more than that is the health effects
associated with the frac mining.
The biggest health concern that I
have found is particulate matter of small size, the main one being crystalline
silicate. Wisconsin has very high levels of silica. However weathered silicates
in agricultural fields are much less dangerous than the ones that come from
freshly fractured soils. Some of the health effects that can come from this
are: decreased lung function, aggravated asthma, development of chronic bronchitis,
irregular heartbeat, non fatal heart attacks; and premature death in people
with preexisting heart or lung disease. (Pierce 2011)
This is
what many people don't understand right now. The frac sand companies are
creating tons of jobs for our local economy which is great, but in hind sight
it is only going to be here for 30 or 40 years. Once it is gone they will be
without a job, and most likely shortly after they will either get very sick or
die. Furthermore, our lands will be irreversibly damaged for decades, and our
streams will have no fish in them due to extremely high pH levels from runoff
from the open pit mines, and our drinking water will be undrinkable for the
same reason. People will no longer want to come to Barron County. The worst part
yet is now the frac sand companies are proposing to build a mine about a
quarter mile from a school. If heavy regulations are not put on the amount of
particulate matter going into the air, kid's lives could possibly be at
stake.
Our economy
is struggling and people are trying to put food on the table, but you have to
ask yourself if the employment opportunities now are worth the possibility of bad
health effects for your children down the road. I don't think any parent wants
to know that it was their fault for their own child's death down the road. Let's do everyone a favor and fight to keep
frac sanding out of Wisconsin. Let your voice be heard and get involved by
going to a board meeting. The more voices out there the better chance we have of
stopping this.
3 comments:
I think this is a very good blog I had no clue about this frac sand and that it was even in wisconsin let alone posing a health threat. I totally agree with you and think that this should not be mined in Wisconsin and if it was to be mined some how figure out a less risk full way of doing it so that nobody will be harmed, but over all i think that this is a very good blog and many people should read this so they are imformed on the possible health threat.
I agree with your position. It is difficult to get people to think 30-40 years into the future when they are struggling now, but we have to change our short-term viewpoint if we want to leave any kind of livable planet for future generations.
Although I am not from that area I agree that frac sand mining will destroy the areas economy not to mention the environment. More people should voice their opinion about the mining so this mistake does not happen.
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