I remember as a kid seeing people wearing a button that read “We can’t all live upstream!”.  I would see the same environmental reminder on  bumper stickers, too.  I didn’t really know what it meant.  Now, with 30 more years of paying attention,  I get it.  And somewhere in our hearts, we all get it.

In our county, people are waking up to a newer environmental concern – hydraulic fracturing.  You see, one of the main ingredients needed for the so called “fracking” is silica sand, a type of sand that has been found to be in abundance here.  Many counties in our area have already seen silica sand mines approved and in operation.  The mining of, transportation of and washing of this sand poses certain environmental risks, to be sure.  Often times, an area of many acres is ripped and blown open so that this  “white” gold may be exploited, making it not only an eyesore, but creating clouds of fine silica dust that may spread for miles.  Silica sand is very crystalline and sharp and when breathed into the lungs over sustained periods of time can harm any living beings lungs (you, your children, family members, friends, pets) especially those with already compromised lung function.

The same goes for the hauling and storing of said sand.  While the trailers are supposed to be covered, we have already seen plenty of videos showing the drivers in too much of a hurry to take the time to pull the canopy over the payload.  Fine white sand, open-air, 65 miles an hour?  You catch the drift.  Literally and figuratively.

And if it happens to be stored in a mountain-sized pile and a good wind comes a blowin’, well… need I say more?

The “washing” of this sand, in order to separate the white stuff from the less desirable sand requires an obscene amount of water.  One such operation in Texas uses 3,700 gallons of water per minute, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, year round, and their permit application states that their operation will be “permanent”.  That’s over 5.3 million gallons a day!

So, yep, the sand mining, the tons of new heavy traffic on roads, the washing, the medical hazards (silicosis) is bad enough, right?

Well, not exactly.  For you see, the sand is just one of the things used in the “fracking” process.  And the fracking process, itself is rife with environmental disaster.  The amount of water, sand and “other chemicals” that is forced down into our earth in order to extract natural gas to fuel our addiction is obscene.  And… all over the US, there are more and more reports of these chemicals leaching into the groundwater, polluting the wells of countless people, making them sick in the short-term and who knows what else in the long-term?

When a county board, like ours here in Winona, MN, says that they will not welcome public input in order to make a decision on a proposed moratorium on the frac sand mining it is like admitting that the money, not public opinion, wins.  The “industry is good for our city” mentality is the same as saying we don’t care about the health of our citizens, we don’t care about the environmental degradation.  How good can industry be in the long run as we all get slowly (some not so slowly) sick?  How many chemicals can a human body take?  What about the young people up and coming who have been exposed to strange chemicals from conception and throughout life?

We can’t all live on other planets.  And to the people who have the vested interest in seeing this industry fluorish:  There will not always be somewhere to run from the environmental havoc you are helping to create.   Remember that a huge pile of money lying next to you in your sick bed is not going to bring you any joy when you know how that money came to you.  Your cows are most certainly coming home to roost.  Please don’t wait until your child is sickened or your wife lay dying before you examine whether or not this fracking might be the wrong frickin’ way to go.  We always, absolutely and positively, reap what we sow.