Mining Fracking Sand

Frack Sand Mining- Ozark Waters

 By now, everyone is familiar with hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas extraction, a.k.a. "fracking."  The environmental concerns about effects of the process on our aquifers were outlined in last year's blog.  The first report of possible ground water contamination was released by the EPA on December 8, 2011.  Unfortunately, that isn't the only possible side effect of fracking.

Even areas of Missouri which are spared the concerns or potential wealth of fracking may be facing environmental side effects of mining the special sand which is used in the process.  David Casaletto has outlined the concerns in the current issue of the .

Without becoming an alarmist, there are some real potential problems that should be considered before major mining takes place in environmentally sensitive areas (meaning around water, land and wildlife).  David's article explains this fully and can't be summarized any better than he has done.  Click on Ozarks Water Watch newsletter for a quick review.