Chris Hubbuch of the La Crosse Tribune wrote an excellent recap of actions taken this week by the alliance to ban frac sand mining and address climate change. A video of the Tuesday rally is available on YouTube.The coalition of at least 18 groups from western Wisconsin and southeast Minnesota participating in this action included the Coulee Region Sierra Club.
Here are remarks made by chair, Pat Wilson, at the Alliance press conference on Monday (with footnotes to Sierra Club pages and stories):
The Coulee Region group of the John Muir Chapter of the Sierra Club joins today with the Alliance to ban frac sand mining and address climate change in opposing any new frac sand mines in our area and urging law makers to ban frac sand mining altogether for the health and safety of our environment and our citizens.
The Sierra Club-John Muir Chapter calls for a moratorium on issuing any frac-sand mining permits until the state conducts a comprehensive study of the impacts and the adequacy of local control. 1
Frac sand mining is a very dangerous business on many levels from local to global:
+ More than 100 frac sand mines in Wisconsin use open pit, hilltop removal processes that destroy landscapes, affect quality of life, and poison our air and water. 1
+ The Wisconsin Department of Transportation estimates Wisconsin is on track to ship about 50 million tons of sand each year out of our state. That is 9,000 truckloads of sand PER DAY. 1
+ Frac sand processing wastes precious clean water. A recent WDNR study showed that with evaporation and water that is incorporated into the sand, a system can use anywhere from 420,500 to 2 million gallons of water per day, or 292 to 1,380 gallons per minute. 1
+ Polyacrylamides are used to wash sand and can contaminate drinking water with acrylamides, which can cause cancer and nerve damage. 1
+ Rivers and streams are polluted with sediment form breached containment ponds 1
+ Everyone who lives, works, or plays near a mine is at risk for health problems from breathing fine silica dust and particulate matter. 1
+ Frac sand mining is part of a larger destructive and dangerous system of fracking to release fossil fuels to burn for transportation and energy production.
+ Greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels burned for transportation and energy production make up more than half of US emissions 2
+ The process of fracking for natural gas is destructive for the environment, people, and the planet 3
+ The chemicals mixed with sand in the fracking process are poisonous and unregulated by the Clean Water Act 3
+ The more than 700 chemicals used in the fracking process include well-known carcinogens, more than 130 hormone-disruptors, and chemicals that can harm fetal health. 4
+ Air pollution is generated at fracking sites by major truck traffic, diesel generators, gas venting, gas flaring, and leakage of air pollutants. The density of wells in a fracked gas field leads to hundreds of sources of air pollution. 5
+ Each natural gas well requires millions of gallons of water to conduct the fracking. On average, 10 to 20 percent of the produced water (water, sand, and chemicals) is returned to the surface and must be disposed of, either by injection or surface treatment and discharge into rivers. 5
+ Failed well casings lead to irreversible contamination of underground aquifers -- the lifeblood of our homes, farms, and fisheries. 5
+ Total greenhouse gas emissions from natural gas are nearly identical to coal, once methane leakage is taken into account. 5
We are nearing a climate change tipping point that is already affecting the lives of millions around the world. We must move from fossil fuel use as quickly as possible to avoid the most extreme catastrophic effects of climate change.
Fracking for fossil fuels to be burned here or to export does not fit into an equation for a habitable earth for our children and theirs. Therefore, any initiative, program or process that encourages, supports or facilitates new fossil fuel development must be stopped.
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1 http://www.sierraclub.org/wisconsin/issues/mining
2 http://www.sierraclub.org/wisconsin/moving-beyond-oil-clean-transportation
3 http://content.sierraclub.org/naturalgas/clean-up-drilling
4 http://sierra.force.com/actions/National?actionId=AR0042698&id=70131000001Lp1FAAS
5 http://content.sierraclub.org/naturalgas/
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