Critics of energy 'fracking' raise new concern: sand - Air quality a serious issue

By Anna Driver

updated 9/21/2011 4:56:22 PM ET

Farmer at one proposed Texas site cites 'air quality concerns, concerns about water quality and worries about truck traffic' 

This EOG Resources site in Cooke County, Texas, is seen being prepared last June for operation as a sand mine. It has drawn opposition from groups like Save the Trinity Aquifer, which believes the operation could contaminate local water supplies 

  HOUSTON — Fracking, the latest push in the quest to produce oil and gas, has been blamed for environmental problems ranging from flammable tap water to minor earthquakes. Now a new risk is being alleged: sand mining.

To squeeze hydrocarbons out of shale through hydraulic fracturing of the rock — the process known as fracking — producers need to pump an enormous amount of sand and other materials into the ground.
Obtaining the sand for this requires removing the top layer of earth over a sandstone deposit and using heavy equipment and large amounts of water to produce the fine grains.

According to some environmentalists and residents of affected areas, sand mining poses a threat to air and water quality.

Facing a shortage of the sand needed in fracking, oil and gas producer EOG Resources got into this mining business to secure scare supplies and bring down costs.

But the company is facing big opposition to an operation planned in North Texas' Cooke County.
"One of the big concerns is the impact on the air," said Jessie Thomas-Blate of the conservation group American Rivers. "Mining kicks up a lot of dust, and the people in the area can breathe in that dust."

"One of the big concerns is the impact on the air," said Jessie Thomas-Blate of the conservation group American Rivers. "Mining kicks up a lot of dust, and the people in the area can breathe in that dust."


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