I suspected as much. As I began to read through recent news reports on tracking
and mining sand in Wisconsin and Minnesota, I noted that both states situate their
mining sites adjacent to streams and rivers. These locations make "all the sense in
the world" since sand fracking requires a dependable and ample supply of water.
As a young person back in the fifties, I was taught an old, common-sense adage
"look before you leap" and, as I read the articles . . . I could see it coming. The "left
over" piles of overburden and processing chemicals often were stored on location
with little or no precautions as how to contain them. You can imagine what might
occur when deluges of rain would pour down. And, rain it did! You guessed it . . .
into the rivers it went and coursing down the streams and rivers went much of the
myriad polluting chemicals used in the extracting process. Compounds with intriguing
names as:
glutaraldehyde,
tetrakis hydroxymethyl-phosphonium sulfate,
formic acid,
triethanolamine zirconate,
borate salts,
guar gum,
thyoglycolic acid,
phosphonic acid salt,
naphthalene, ethylene glycol (antifreeze),
along with
no less than fifty (50)
other chemicals commonly
used as additives.
So much for our traditionally valued "quality of life" for fish and other aquatic life -
to say nothing about our sources of clean drinking water and don't even mention our
love of water for recreation . . . And, the bottom line: lost tourist dollars that
partially support our economy.
Not sure what solutions there are to address these problems. To be sure, we do rely
on a steady flow of oil and gas liberated from deep in the ground.
But at what cost?
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