Comments on: 7 Sand Mining Communities, 3 States, 5 Months – Part 1 https://www.fractracker.org/2016/01/7-sand-mining-communities-part-1/ Insights empowering action Thu, 12 Mar 2020 17:34:14 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.2 By: Dale C Rubin https://www.fractracker.org/2016/01/7-sand-mining-communities-part-1/#comment-276908 Mon, 22 May 2017 10:13:07 +0000 https://www.fractracker.org/?p=15766#comment-276908 Very amazing Article about air quality thanks for sharing this stuff i liked it and will use this useful information for my research papers

]]> By: Dean https://www.fractracker.org/2016/01/7-sand-mining-communities-part-1/#comment-275640 Fri, 27 Jan 2017 22:14:09 +0000 https://www.fractracker.org/?p=15766#comment-275640 In reply to Pete Gonigam.

I have no idea how long you have worked for Fairmont minerals, but u need to get ur facts straight,. Up until 2006 when Troy Grove wedron went up and the Frac boom hit, people from wedron barely noticed Fairmont or the people who worked their witch was a quarter of what works their now, and the trains only road tho town once mabe twice a day. Their was one plant and now their is five monster plants, As of 2006 it got worse and worse to present day where trains move every 20 to 40 min, trucks roll 24/7 and more water and sand problems than ever before. Fairmont has a moto that is do good do well and on the outside in the public eye they do, but what they have done to the village of wedron over the past 10 years is uncalled for. Property values have fallen up to 90% homes have been condemned by the state and can’t be sold, and the walls in homes are cracking from vibration of trains and yes tractors that run down the street. As u work their you are MSHAW qualified and know what sand dose to someone’s health, so don’t misslead the public with distorted facts as how u don’t know what long term exposure does to one’s health because you do know and beaing an employee you are required to know. Fairmont dose provided good paying work and no one wants to see that go away, but Fairmont dose need to clean up its back yard to live by their motto, in do good do well

]]> By: Pete Gonigam https://www.fractracker.org/2016/01/7-sand-mining-communities-part-1/#comment-274736 Sun, 16 Oct 2016 00:57:54 +0000 https://www.fractracker.org/?p=15766#comment-274736 The earliest clear reference I can find to Wedron Silica dates from 1928 so I don’t think the fact that there’s a sandpit in Wedron much of a surprise to “folks who lived in the peaceful wooded bluffside country homes right across the road.” I particularly enjoyed the guy complaining about the noisy trains; the line’s been there since at least 1870, the date chiseled on the bridge over Stadden’s Run, the next creek south. (Since benzene is colorless, the orange color in his water was probably due to ferric oxide. Our water in nearby Dayton had 18ppm in the mid-60’s.) There is considerable dispute over whether extremely fine silica sand can cause lung cancer: Gamble JF. Crystalline silica and lung cancer: a critical review of the occupational epidemiology literature of exposure-response studies testing this hypothesis. Crit Rev Toxicol 2011;41(5):404–465.

]]> By: Jim Gurley https://www.fractracker.org/2016/01/7-sand-mining-communities-part-1/#comment-274420 Thu, 08 Sep 2016 03:09:18 +0000 https://www.fractracker.org/?p=15766#comment-274420 In reply to Annie.

Annie, you are right-on, in both your information and your passionate resistance to this invasion. I live in Winona County, MN along the Mississippi River, where the frack-sand invasion began in 2011. As of December of that year there were 8 applications for frack sand mines, but the citizens got together and organized and formed Citizens Against Silica Mining (CASM) and have so far kept ALL frack sand mines out of the county. Our county board is now considering a total ban on all frack sand mining operations in the county, including trans-loading (trucks to trains), and processing.

You wrote, “We need to activate environmentalists and legal entities much more forcefully to fight this…” You bet! There is a movement that challenges the legal system in the U.S. and the judicial decisions since the 19th century that have essentially handed over rights — meant for you and me — to corporations. (Citizens United is simply the latest in a long string of Supreme Ct cases). This movement is called Community Rights, and they have a very interesting strategy. I am excited about it, because it goes to the systemic core of the problem, instead of only looking at symptoms like pipelines, strip-mines, CAFOs, fracking, etc.

If you’re interested, there is good info at http://www.paulcienfuegos.com or http://www.celdf.org (By the way, Paul Cienfuegos will be touring the Upper Midwest late this winter giving workshops and talks on the Community Rights movement. Let me know if you’re interested, and I can give you more info.

By the way, a thousand thanks to Ted Auch and FracTracker! And to all of those brave and committed citizens in La Salle County IL and elsewhere who refuse to give up, but are instead fighting unapologetically for their rights and their way of life.

In thanks and solidarity,
Jim Gurley
Citizens Against Silica Mining (CASM)
Citizens Acting for Rail Safety (CARS)
Winona County, Minnesota

]]> By: Fracking foolishness – Solastalgia, USA https://www.fractracker.org/2016/01/7-sand-mining-communities-part-1/#comment-273512 Mon, 20 Jun 2016 16:44:55 +0000 https://www.fractracker.org/?p=15766#comment-273512 […] on “people, agriculture, wildlife, ecosystem services, and watersheds more broadly”.  Part One investigates Whiting, IN (the site of the Whiting BP refinery, the biggest in the country, and the […]

]]> By: Annie https://www.fractracker.org/2016/01/7-sand-mining-communities-part-1/#comment-272764 Mon, 09 May 2016 06:35:53 +0000 https://www.fractracker.org/?p=15766#comment-272764 I am just so very grateful to have found this website and deeply appreciate the work that has gone into it. Sand mining/frack-sand mining is so underreported, even in environmental circles. Being from Illinois and a current resident and having loved Starved Rock since childhood and then having also lived several decades in West Michigan where sand mining is rampant, it just boggles the mind that such destruction of the Earth, waters, air, vegetation, wildlife, habitat, and human (even basic) ‘quality of life’ is allowed – anywhere, ever! It is my opinion that we who care about these matters need to lead an effort to redefine the kinds of mentalities and characters who are willing to destroy Earth this way: they have some form of character disorder. This must be true because what other kind of mentality could willingly destroy the home we all share, the home that gives us life? It is always done in the name of jobs, but greed, exploitation and predation can give any kind of rationale they want and it’s still greed,, exploitation and predation. We see it in mountain top removal mining that is obliterating an ancient North American mountain range, the Appalachians! We see it along some of the most beautiful and precious waterways in North America, in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, leaving moonscapes and vile “water” in its wake after destructive activity that goes on for years and decades! We need to call the perpetrators of this kind of activity what they are: sociopaths or psychopaths or some other mental disorder that a professional could define. We need to activate environmentalists and legal entities much more forcefully to fight this – fracking, lead-poisoned water, GMO, etc all get a lot of press and public attention (and rightly so), but sand mining? frack sand mining? Hardly gets a mention! But show somebody the aerial views or let one of these monstrous mines begin or restart or expand next door or next to a beloved place (like Starved Rock or the Lake Michigan dunes or the upper Mississippi, etc.) and that focuses the attention! I think realtors should be fighting it. I think homeowners should be using whatever legal means there might be, or could be developed, to fight this. We are truly witnessing the scraping away and destruction of more and more places in North America and particularly the Midwest. At what price these “extractions” and mines that take our water, our soil, our trees, our air, our peace of mind, our love of beauty and Nature, our homes…. This has to stop!

]]> By: Ann Mattes https://www.fractracker.org/2016/01/7-sand-mining-communities-part-1/#comment-270830 Wed, 03 Feb 2016 21:05:22 +0000 https://www.fractracker.org/?p=15766#comment-270830 Hello Ted;
Just received your tour report of South Chicago and LaSalle County. Thank you for all the effort and hard work plus time involved. I have shared it with many on my e-mail list. Thank you for using my comments and I hope and pray all will help to open other eyes to the problem.
If I may mention. . . .northwest of Utica on I-80 is another mine. . . Quality Sand Products which you may have missed. Access would be County Road 178 north of the Utica four corners (Route 6 & CR 178). Take the frontage road at the Seed Company which goes to a camp ground. QSP is at the end of the road.
Also northwest of the Peru Mall a facility for transloading sand is under construction.
Also four large parcels of land on both sides of CR 178 just north of McDonalds and a Gas station is proposed for another sand mine known as Aramoni LLC in the LaSalle County plat book. A copy can be purchased at the Soil and Water Conservation District office on Route 23 kitty/korner from Farm and Fleet.
Hope this information is useful to you and again thanks for your good work in helping to care for our environment.
Peace, Ann Mattes
Don or Anna

]]> By: Willis F. Fry https://www.fractracker.org/2016/01/7-sand-mining-communities-part-1/#comment-270807 Tue, 02 Feb 2016 19:34:11 +0000 https://www.fractracker.org/?p=15766#comment-270807 Art is 100 % right on!! It is indeed Eagle who is hidden behind the “White Sand” mine, a mine that was originally presented to be under the ownership “Illinois Cement”. Oh how fast the Corporate Players and Names Changed. As a member of the Utica Planning Commission I tried to bring out this fact (the involvement of EAGLE) at the time the Illinois Cement Company was requesting this property be annexed into the Village of Utica. The annexation was necessary for the company to bypass the then LaSalle County ban on any additional mines. The ban would not apply were the property to be a part of the Village of North Utica. One of the questions I put to the Illinois Cement CEO was EAGLE and also what the future long range plan was for the mine, the company, etc.. The CEO of Illinois Cement informed me there “was no future plan”. How fast that changed after the Planning Commission’s NO VOTE for annexation was ignored by the Village Board and approval was given for the annexation. Soon after that Annexation took place, Corporate names began to change, other corporate entities who were playing a part in the new mine began to surface, etc. All of this being done without the existence of ” A LONG RANGE PLAN” at Illinois Cement. One need only read the transcripts of both the Utica Planning Commission Meetings, along with those of the Village Board, to draw their own conclusions on what was said versus what has transpired. The same would apply to future annexations, by still different corporate entities, into the Village of Utica, i.e., promises of 70 plus jobs, little additional impact on traffic, limited noise from blasting, limited operational noise, limited dust, limited impact on the value of existing homes located next to the mining property, etc.. The story goes on and on and sadly it has not ended yet. The only thing that has caused somewhat of a temporary reprieve on the impact of these mines is the drastic drop in the price of oil. While this may not bankrupt some of the major players it may indeed destroy the earnings of a true “Mom and Pop” Operation known as ARAMONI. One can only hope.

]]> By: Phil Gassman https://www.fractracker.org/2016/01/7-sand-mining-communities-part-1/#comment-270803 Tue, 02 Feb 2016 15:23:11 +0000 https://www.fractracker.org/?p=15766#comment-270803 Yes you are correct Art, Northern White Sand is a part of Eagle Materials. They jumped into the sand business as fast as the could to try and cash in on the high price of oil which made the sand in high demand. Well, now that the price of oil is down Northern White Sand is not even working, so all those jobs promised to the area are gone and some of those are probably on unemployment – is that good for our local economy? And what will happen to NWS? Go bankrupt or sell out because they are not normally in the sand business? Hate to tell you we told you so, but the land should have remained agriculture.

]]> By: Twila Yednock https://www.fractracker.org/2016/01/7-sand-mining-communities-part-1/#comment-270791 Tue, 02 Feb 2016 00:01:15 +0000 https://www.fractracker.org/?p=15766#comment-270791 In reply to Art Moak.

I agree, Art….no Mom and Pop I know have the resources and the savvy to finance the mine, “persuade” Utica to annex it, and keep it all a complete and utter secret until it was a done deal….to the everlasting regret of the folks who lived in the peaceful wooded bluffside country homes right across the road.from the mine. SURPRISE! Now they have blasting, machinery, trucks, and endless noise and dust for their peaceful surroundings! It is a crime that our elected officials don’t owe something to the residents of the county…like making the secret public, and letting the people decide. I am shock by how cheaply public officials are talked into selling out the residents of an area…really, all of LaSalle County is affected in many ways. City officials of Ottawa didn’t require air quality monitoring of a transfer facility right across the river from Ottawa, and upwind. Shocking lapse of responsibility to your townsfolk. People around Wedron have been contending with poisoned wells and all the rest of the bad stuff sand mining brings. It is tragic…and it all goes to support fracking, and even bigger environmental disaster. WE, the little people, do not count in the world as it runs today.

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