Sand Mining in Western Wisconsin, an Overview

Introduction

While this post will focus on the questions of What is sand frac mining? and Where is this process taking place in Wisconsin? a little background into the overall process hydraulic fracturing and why sand is the quintessential piece of this procedure will serve to frame the booming industry that is sand frac mining in Wisconsin. 

Hydraulic Fracturing

Recent increases in demands for oil have caused an expansion in the oil and natural gas extraction process, known as hydraulic fracturing.  Hydraulic fracturing is a process that evolves drilling into layers of shale rock, where deposits of oil or natural gas are encompassed into the rock. As the drill punctures the layer of shale, it forces a pressurized mixture of water, chemicals and certain sized particles of sand into the rock, effectively cracking the shale layers open. These these cracks expand, the particles of sand forced into the fissures keep the cracks open a well is created which serves to continue sending the pressurized mixture of water, chemicals and sand into these fissures, while the fossil fuels are pumped out of the ground to the surface (Fig 1).

Fig 1. The process of Hydraulic Fracturing, with specific focus on the extraction of natural gas in Marcellus Shale. Photo taken from the Transportation Impacts of Frac Sand Mining in the MAFC Region: Chippewa County Case Study paper. See sources below. In text citation ProPublica, n.d..

While it may seem that the sand plays a small roll in this operation, the opposite is true.  With out the sand to keep the fissures open, the extraction of fossil fuels from these wells would not be as feasible, as the fissures would close and pumping would cease. This in turn would make the hydraulic fracturing process economical or possible.

Sand

While sand may be abundant in many areas, the sand used in this process is actually quite specific and which also must be of a specific size and shape . The sand used in hydraulic fracturing is grain sized, quartz, well rounded and of uniform size (Fig 2) (Brown, 2012).

Figure 2. Silica Sand (quartz) of the correct size, shape and uniformity. Picture taken from Brown, 2012. In text citation Mike Parsen, 2011. See sources below.

As it turns out, due to Wisconsin's geological make up, "Wisconsin has some of the best frac sand in the country because several of our geologic formations meet these specifications [size, roundness, and uniformity] and are found near the surface" (Fig 3), (Brown, 2012).

Fig 3. Locations of frac sand in the United States, specifically of  Cambrian Quartz. Picture taken from Silica Sand Mining in Wisconsin, from the Wisconsin DNR. Also notated as figure 3 in text. In text citation USGS. See sources below.

While their are a few locations of the the quartz sandstone in the United States, by far the must abundant location is the middle and North Western areas of Wisconsin.  A closer view of Wisconsin from Brown, 2012 ravels a number of frac sand mining operations in the Western stretches of the state as well as in the middle, with a localized view of the sandstone formations of Wisconsin (Fig 4). 

Fig 4. Frac Sand Mining Locations in Wisconsin situated on Sandstone formations. Red squares represent frac sand mines and processing plants, active or in development as of December 2011. Map taken from Picture taken from Brown, 2012. See sources below.

While the fig 4 shows how many frac sand mining sites were operating in December 2011, the Wisconsin DNR has a current record of all of the sand mining facilities in Wisconsin as of December 2015 (Fig 5).  

Fig 5. Current facilities of Sand Mining Operations, including inactive and reclaimed Facilities. Data and table taken from the Wisconsin DNR's website Locations of Industrial Sand Mines and Processing Plants in Wisconsin.See Sources below.

This information from the Wisconsin DNR may be indicative how much Frac sand mining facilities have increased from approximately 40 in 2011 (Brown, 2012) to 84 Active Facilities in 2015 (Wisconsin DNR, 2015).  It is important to note that while the Wisconsin DNR's information includes rail loading sites, it is unclear if Brown 2012 includes these in the recorded sites, so it may be that some of the growth from the year 2011 to 2015 is also from an increase in these facilities.

What are some of the issues associated with Sand frac mining in Western Wisconsin?

Sand Mining has many side effects both to people and infrastructure in Western Wisconsin. Some Issues associated with frac sand mining including air and water pollution due to emissions, both from the machinery and tools which are employed in the mining process and the particulate matter that is released into the air from the processing of the sand. While these impacts may seem trivial current studies are under way lead by scientists at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire to determine the true impact of sand mining on health. Just recently on ongoing study by Dr. Crispin Pierce had determined that the health impacts of sand mining may be being downplayed, from a 18 month long air quality study done at a local sand mining plant (Lindquist, 2016).

Another problem with sand mining has to do with the spill over effects on infrastructure surrounding the sand mines and the roads which must be traveled by a high volume of heavily burdened between the sand mines and the rail depots, as the sand is moved across the country to various shale deposits where the sand is then used for mining. In addition to loaded trucks moving from the mine to the railroad loading sites, empty trucks are returning to the mine as well as still burdened trucks whose sand deposits did not meet the quality required for transport (Hart et al. 2013). Figure 6 (below) shows some of the impacts on road infrastructure, based on mine type, a description of the processing operations, and type of truck movements from that location, with the impact of that transportation.

Fig 6. Table of operations and transportation of Frac Sand to and from mining locations to destinations where the sand is then transported from the area to shale deposits. Hart et al, 2013.  

In addition to increased road traffic, comes an increase in railroad traffic, as more sand is transported from the Midwest to shale locations across the United States. There are four major rail networks in the Western part of Wisconsin, Canadian Pacific, Canadian National, Union Pacific and Burlington Northern & Santa Fe (Hart et al, 2013) (Fig 7). While some of the impact of transportation has been recouped in the form of Road Upgrade Maintenance Agreements (RUMA) between the county governments and the frac sand mines, the actual impact of these agreements varies based on the contract negotiations between the sand mines and the county (Hart et al, 2013). With all of these agreements and the continuing impact of trucks on roads studies are being undertaken to determine if these agreements will actually negate the road impacts that are occurring due to the increased transport.

Fig 7. Map of rail lines and interstates in the Northwest WisDOT region, by county. Hart et al, 2013.

How GIS will be used to further explore some of these issues as part of a class project

As we have already discovered GIS is an amazing tool, which provides analysis of geospatial data and confounding factors related to spatial questions and problems. GIS can serve as a powerful tool to collect and display data resulting from the impacts of the many issues that surrounding frac sand mining. For example we could map out traffic patterns and highlight heavy use roads which also fall into a category of "needing repair" and are also used by frac sand mining sites as transportation routes. We could determine based on location of the sand mines the best way routes for transportation of the sand and advise the county on impacts of new routes or alternative routes. We could track air quality indexes near frac sand mining sites.

In short we have a limitless series of questions that can be answered with a geospatial questions as long as we have the know how to collect, understand or use data to analyze those questions.  These questions do not necessarily have to be contained to the Western Portion of Wisconsin, but could be used for analysis across the United States, as well.

Fig 8. Shale Locations with oil or natural gas, where frac sand would be sent in the United States.Hart et al, 2013. In text Citation: U.S. Energy Information Administration based on data from various published sources, with Canada and Mexico data coming from ARI. 



Just by looking at Fig 8, a map of shale plays in the United States we can see that while movement out of the Midwest will be a local problem transpiration into and out of each mining site could play a role on Infrastructure in each of those locations as well. 

Sources

Brown, Bruce. 2012 Frac Sand In Wisconsin. Retrieved 2/25/2016.

http://wcwrpc.org/frac-sand-factsheet.pdf

Hart, Maria. Adams Teresa. Schwartz, Andrew. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Transportation Impacts of Frac Sand Mining in the MAFC Region: Chippewa County Case Study. Retrieved 2/25/2016

http://midamericafreight.org/wp-content/uploads/FracSandWhitePaperDRAFT.pdf

Lindquist, Eric. Sand Mining, Health Troubles link Downplayed In Report. Eau Claire Leader Telegram.
Retrieved 02/26/2016.

 http://www.leadertelegram.com/News/Front-Page/2016/02/03/Sand-mining-health-troubles-link-downplayed-in-report.html

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Silica Sand Mining. Retrieved 2/25/2016.
http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/Mines/documents/SilicaSandMiningFinal.pdf

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Industrial Sand Mining. Retrieved 2/25/2016.
http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/Mines/Sand.html

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.  Locations of Industrial Sand Mines and Processing Plants in Wisconsin. Retrieved 2/25/2016
http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/Mines/ISMMap.html