Sep 12
2009

From http://www.answers.com/topic/industrial-sand:

Fracturing Sand. Fracturing or hydraulic “frac” sand, also known as “proppant” sand, accounted for 5 percent of U.S. industrial sand production in 2003. It is comprised of washed and graded high silica-content quartz sand with a grain size of between 0.84 and 0.42 millimeters and is used in high-pressure fluids pumped into oil and gas wells to enlarge or scour out openings in oil-or gas-bearing rock or to create new fractures from which oil or gas can be recovered. Traditionally, the “fracture treatment” at an average well* uses 26,000 pounds of fracture sand, and annual demand for fracture sand increases or decreases with the level of activity in the oil and gas industry.

*un-naturalgas.org notes: the sand volume requirement for a horizontally-drilled, high-volume hydraulically fractured gas well wold be much higher than that for the “average well” cited.

Where does all that frac sand come from?

From places where people live.

Concerned Chippewa Citizens, Chippewa, Wisconsin, says:

“Canadian Sand and Proppants will construct 5 smoke stacks so they can legally distribute as much as 56 pounds per hour of really fine particulate matter over Chippewa Falls and the surrounding areas. The DNR says two will be 51 feet high and three will be 96 feet high. This will distribute the dust far and wide. This 56 pound limit includes only the smaller size of dust ~ the size you can’t see but can breathe into your lungs. There will be additional dust of a larger size ~ too big to breathe into your lungs, but capable of being a nuisance. The 56 pounds per hour does not include escaped or “fugitive” dust that will come from trucks hauling sand on Highway S, the multiple storage piles of sand on the property, and other sources that mining companies don’t have to count due to a special free pass. The company is supposed to operate and maintain filters to keep the amount of dust less than 56 pounds per hour, but they don’t want to do any monitoring of the air that will let citizens know how well the system is working.

chippewastreetflowers
“Our City Council and Planning Commission are expediting the construction of this huge processing plant. The city floated a $1.75 million bond (loan) as an incentive to lure this foreign company to build in our quiet city. Canadian Sand and Proppant Inc. doesn’t have to start paying back the $1.75 million dollar loan until 2011 and then they have ten years to do it. In addition they won’t have to start paying any taxes for 6.5 years. It’s a really good deal for them.”

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More of the story, as reported by Wisconsin Public Radio and Fox 21:

Western Wisconsin sand mining goes against the grain for some residents
03/25/2009

By Mary Jo Wagner, Wisconsin Public Radio

EAU CLAIRE (WPR) Many of the hills in western Wisconsin are turning out to be valuable to oil and gas drilling companies.  But some in Chippewa County are fighting plans to mine the sand there.

As the country looks for ways to become less dependent on oil from the Middle East, companies drilling for natural gas and oil in the U.S and Canada need ways to squeeze the most out of underground reserves.  That’s where “frac” sand comes in.  It’s pumped underground during drilling to keep rock fractures from closing up.

Canadian Sand and Proppant has an agreement with two farmers in Chippewa County to mine frac sand for more than 40 years.   Sand would be trucked to a new processing plant near a rail line in Chippewa Falls.

. . . . .

What is it about the sand in western Wisconsin that’s getting attention?  UW-Eau Claire geology professor Kent Syverson has studied the land features of Chippewa County

“The reason why we have these sand deposits here in western Wisconsin is because we used to have mountains. And over millions of years those mountains disappeared and what was left behind was quartz sand.”

Professor Syverson says valuable frac sand is medium sized and rounded.  It’s also much stronger than the fine sand used to make glass.   In some parts of western Wisconsin he says it’s very deep in the ground.

“But in Chippewa, Dunn and Jackson County, there we have these sandstones right at the surface making them easy to mine.”

Too easy, according to mining opponents like Ken Schmitt.  He claims that air quality, ground water, and property values will be hurt by mining and the increased truck traffic.   His beef farm is next to the first mine sites and possibly competing ones.

”Between Barron and Chippewa, there’s three other companies with thirteen attached mines that were looking before the price of oil dropped…and doesn’t count the three or four mines associated with Canadian Sand here…and it’s going to eat up a lot of farmland,” says Schmitt.

Beth Walton objects to the proposed processing plant in Chippewa Falls because of health concerns and how it will affect tenants in her nearby apartment building.  She’s part of the group, Concerned Chippewa Citizens, that’s filed a lawsuit

“The decision to grant a conditional land use permit to Canadian sand was not handled through the proper procedures or with the proper amount of due diligence, fact finding,” says Walton.

Concerned Chippewa Citizen’s lawsuit goes to court in April.

Two years ago, a group of nearby Dunn County citizens stopped a Texas company from leveling Hoffman Hills. That was in part because the town’s Smart Growth — or comprehensive long range plan — spelled out that mining didn’t fit with the landscape.  However in Chippewa County, Ken Schmitt says state mandated plans have not been finished.

“Up until last June, the people in the town of Howard had no idea that what we had was desirable anywhere on this scale,” says Schmitt.

Professor Syverson says this is an example of the trade-offs that’ll be required if the country wants to be energy independent.   Plant manager Stone says financing for the project is still up in the air and lower prices for foreign oil are complicating things, but he hopes to start mining within the year and put more than 50 people to work.

“Why do our kids grow up and move away? Because they can’t find jobs – well, if industry’s and jobs aren’t being brought into the area, there’s nothing for them to do.”

But in the rural areas, Ken Schmitt says only the mine site land owners will benefit financially.

–

Noted by Fox21: Information from Wisconsin Public Radio, www.wpr.org

http://www.fox21online.com/news/western-wisconsin-sand-mining-goes-against-grain-some-residents

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Sep 12
2009

The gas drilling industry is known for the repetition of its mantra that hydraulic fracturing fluids are composed mostly of water and sand; if pressed hard enough, they’ll admit there’s a few staggeringly toxic chemicals in there, too.  And because so much water is used, and the chemicals are so toxic, and therefore so much toxic waste is created, the focus of the opposition has been on water and toxins.

Sand seems so harmless, so inert, that frequently it’s not given a second thought.  But sand has repercussions of its own, particularly on the communities near where it’s mined and processed.

Chippewa Falls, in Wisconsin, is one of those communities.  In its own voice:
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“Chippewa Falls is a city of 13,054 in Northwestern Wisconsin. It is historically a technology town, the birthplace of Seymour Cray and the development of Cray computers. Unfortunately, this area also has an abundance of the kind of specialized sand (called “frac”sand) used in the fracturing process by oil and gas companies to increase production. CSP will need four sand mines in surrounding areas, bringing the sand into Chippewa Falls for processing, in order to run their plant at full capacity. The town of Howard is fighting plans for the first mine.

“Background: In May of 2008 the The Chippewa Herald writes about the “new industry” for Chippewa Falls. This is the first public announcement of a planning process that had been going on behind the scenes for approximately a year. The 90 acres of land within the city limits (a first in Wisconsin) had already been annexed and zoned heavy industrial. An interesting sideline here is how city and county government can blindside the citizens.

“So what are the advantages? None. 20 jobs at the plant site, truckers that live in other towns, and with a TIF designation, it will be 6 or 7 years before the city and county see a tax benefit. What are the problems? A lot. The proposed plant will be ¼ of a mile to a mile from housing projects, schools, a 318-acre park and zoo, a hospital, a day care center, and light industry – some utilizing “clean rooms” may have to relocate.

chippewafallsaerial2

“Damaged and lost wetlands, toxic runoff at the plant and mine site, damage to the aquifer from blasting are all possibilities, and have been reported at other sites. Some economic concerns: the costs of road/rail maintenance, the loss of other safe, clean and green industry, decreased property values, increased health care costs, and of vital importance, loss of land for family farms. Once this plant is built it cannot be “unbuilt”. In the end, the mined agricultural land cannot be returned to productive agricultural use.

“We have been told that 560 trucks and 70 train cars a day will use our roads and tracks. Health concerns center around crystalline silica dust inhalation (a carcinogen), diesel particulates, congested truck traffic, as well as emissions from both the sand plant and a future resin plan. We do not have information on how far these particulates can travel. Wildlife will be displaced by a plant that runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with continuous noise and flashing lights. Many of our tree lined hillsides and scenic waterways will be gone.

“This is not a done deal. Anyone can help.”

From http://ccc-wis.com/page112/page112.html
Learn much more surfing  http://ccc-wis.com/index.html

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Does any of this sound familiar? In fact, does any of it NOT sound familiar? It seems that the same problems intended for us, here at the sand’s destination, are to be imposed on those who live at its source. Turns out that you don’t have to live over natural gas deposits to have your life ruined by hydraulic fracturing.

How, you wonder, do its advocates (most of whom have a financial interest in promoting it) get away with the claim that natural gas is a “clean fuel” when so much stuff – water, chemicals, sand – has to be hauled by diesel-powered trains and semis from as far as halfway across the country in order to get the gas out of the ground. Natural gas is a dirty fuel, mined through the combined efforts of many dirty enterprises.

Help these folks in Chippewa Falls, by helping ourselves. It’s time to ban horizontal drilling with high-volume hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in New York State, the USA, the world.

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Trackback  •  Posted in Bad Neighbors, Community Effects, Cost Externalization, Fighting Back, Mean Energy  


Apr 10
2009

Thanks to http://txsharon.blogspot.com/2009/04/barnett-shale-industries-dish-it-out-to.html for this story:

From Calvin Tillman, Mayor of DISH, Texas
I continue to bring up the negative illustrations of the impact the numerous pipelines, compressors and metering stations which have forced themselves upon our small community. In fighting the last four years, it has been a hope of mine that at some point the assault on our rights would stop. However, it is becoming more and more apparent that the blows from this industry will continue. Many of you have seen the massive compressors, metering stations and pipelines that we have here. If you could have seen this area five years ago, the footprint was very small. Unfortunately, this sight grows more and more every day. Atmos Energy decided to put their facility here, and unfortunately for us, if you want to sell natural gas to Atmos, you are going to bring it here. Atmos really started this mess, as some describe, they were the camel’s nose in the tent, and from there it exploded and has destroyed the better part of 70 acres of good land. However, it appears as though it is only the beginning, as there is more on the way.

When one of these companies come sniffing around, they too just stick their nose in the tent, and send their paid liars to tell you that a small facility is all it is going to be…and then you hear the rest of the story much later. They tell you that there will be a facility that you will hardly even notice such as Crosstex energy told us a year and a half ago. They tell us that there will only be a small building, that houses a small compressor, and if that was the end, it wouldn’t have been bad. However, now they want to put in some other gas processing equipment that has a couple of tanks that are forty feet high…yes forty feet! So once again the Town of DISH, gets kicked, and they won’t even let us get up. Once they get through with their continued assault, there will be one of the other companies coming to share the bad news of their expansion. It seems as though there is little we can do to stop constant violation of our civil rights. How is it that a for profit company, can decide that we here in DISH are the ones whose property becomes worthless? How is it that our peace and quiet here in DISH is destroyed, for the greater good? How is is that we have to deal with natural gas releases in the middle of the night during a lightning storm (which sound like a jet engine at full throttle)? I foolishly thought that we had protections from these assaults, left to us by the founding fathers of this great nation. I don’t recall the story in the history books that told of the for profit company, who could destroy your way of life, you property rights, and quite possible your health, as many of you know better than me. I was not a great student, but I did manage to stay awake in history, how could I have missed this?

It has now become clear that “enough is enough”, is not a theory these companies believe in. They somehow have been given the power to violate the common people’s rights, and have taken it so far as to believe that they are justified in doing so. I wonder from time to time how they sleep at night? What do they tell there families when they go home at night? Do they tell them that they swindled someone out of there land? How bout the person that lost there retirement which they invested in the property that they threatened into signing over to them? Do they tell their families those stories? More likely, they tell them what good neighbors their prospective companies are, or better yet they tell the story of the great product, and how nice it feels on a cold morning, when that clean natural gas fires up. . Clean natural gas? Come look at the by-products of that clean natural gas here in DISH and judge for yourself. As always, I will do everything I can do, to soften the blow for the citizens here, but it will not be enough. It won’t be long before every camel has their entire body in the tent at our expense. As always, please share this with whoever might be interested.
..
Calvin Tillman
Mayor, DISH, TX
(940) 453-3640

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