by Sally Petrilli – Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin
A sand story – It’s been almost two years since a group of citizens in Chippewa Falls, and surrounding Wisconsin communities came together to protest the City Council’s decision allowing Canadian Sand and Proppants, Inc. (CS&P) to build
Site of proposed sand processing plant in Chippewa Falls
a processing plant within the city limits that will process 2.6 million tons of sand a year for use in oil and gas wells across the country.
How is this sand processed and used? CS&P plans to truck in sand from mines to be developed in areas around the city, treat it with water and chemicals (a number of which qualify as hazardous materials and carcinogens), and ship it out by trucks and rail. This “frac sand” is pumped into wells with a liquid, usually water, at high pressure as part of the hydraulic fracturing process to hold open cracks in the rocks and increase production.
Concerned Chippewa Citizens (CCC) – Newspaper articles began to appear only after the 93 acres of agricultural land and two wetlands had been purchased, annexed into the city, designated “heavy industrial”, and given liberal tax exemptions. CCC was formed in response to this information. Community concerns centered on whether the facility, and the multiple mines needed to support it, will negatively impact the public health, the local economy and our natural resources. With an abundance of this specialized sand, a further concern was the possibility of a rapid and large expansion of similar mines and plants throughout the region, changing the communities and destroying the landscape forever.
Some actions – Many people have attended local governmental meetings to “speak out”. Letters, emails and phone calls have gone to local and national outlets, including letters in support of pending legislation to regulate fracturing at the national level. A forum was held to bring the facts to the community. Connections have been made and information shared with regional groups also experiencing pressure from mining interests. For example, in Blair, Wisconsin citizens are opposing the Canadian Winn Bay Sand Company’s proposed sand mine and processing plant, both less than a mile from the city.
Research - CCC has done extensive research on the implications of this huge project. Issues include respirable crystalline silica inhalation, diesel particulates, congested truck traffic, water and noise pollution, loss of agricultural land and wetlands, and degraded property values. Phone calls and Web searches have identified many cities and towns across the U.S.A. with similar concerns. To name a few:
Citizen vigilance in the Arkansas Calico Rocks area stopped the Bluebird Sand LLC mining operation from discharging sediment into local rivers without a permit.
Activists are working to protect communities from exploitative gas drilling that may affect wells in the Pennsylvania/New York/West Virginia/Ohio Marcellus Shale region.
The city of Fort Worth, Texas, one of the biggest beneficiaries in the natural gas boom, is questioning its largely supportive stand of the industry after a study found high levels of hazardous chemicals, including Benzene, in the air near production sites.
What next? Concerned Chippewa Citizens will continue to work toward building public support and motivating individual involvement. It is essential for city and town governments to have policies, ordinances and funding regulations in place that protect against the potential harm which the mining of such sand and the use of the fracturing process might produce. As our country transitions from coal, oil and gas to renewable energy sources, communities must also look to the future and support businesses that provide energy sources that are safe, clean, and green.
The CCC website at www.ccc-wis.com has a wealth of information.
Turning the earth from green to brown for the black oil of salvation, a rapidly declining resource is not merely a local or state concern, but is national and international. The hills and valleys of western Chippewa County in West Central Wisconsin may be invaded, cut down and contaminated by a foreign corporation promising an economic boom for the Chippewa Valley. The great magnitude of the mines and the scale of the processing plant is not yet grasped by the majority who will be indirectly affected by the this heavy industry, nor those currently living adjacent to the proposed site including those on Lake Wissota. Pure water, sparking horizons, dark nights, moon and stars are some of the pleasures that will be replaced with noise, secondary light, clanging trains, switch engines, increased heavy diesel truck traffic and the threat of micro particulates in the air. Can we afford the cost of acute and chronic upper airway irritants as well as asthma and carcinogens in the lungs and hearts of young and old now and in future years? Should we exchange our rural and agricultural culture that currently supports light, clean, industrial businesses for a heavy, industry that supports fossil fuels, foreign and domestic, and promises appoximately twenty-five jobs at the plant and mine sites plus truck drivers filling the roads day and night while the real profits escape to foreign banks and shareholders? Drive through the hills of western Chippewa County now or later this spring. Observe the rich farms and land that produced several generations of healthy citizens. Continue east past Irvine Park, bequeathed to us from the remnants of the Pine forests until you reach Lake Wissota where so many live and play now, and so many others have enjoyed the lake for recreation in addition to the clean power produced from its hydroelectric dams. Can we surrender the cleanliness and beauty of our present lives
for the promises of unsustainable capital and the blight left in the wake deep mines and shafts in the sky?