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The Life Of Land After Frac SandSince the late 2000s, growth in hydraulic fracturing has created a new demand for sand deposits around western Wisconsin. Of highest value is hard, fine-grained sand perfect for cracking underground rock formations that hold oil and natural gas. But beyond the short-term economic ups and downs that come with any activity tied to the energy industry, what happens over the long run at the sites where frac sand is mined?
Barron County sits at the northern end of western Wisconsin's frac sand belt. The frac sand boom began to make its mark there between 2008 and 2010, before slowing down a bit in 2016. A variety of operations in the county mine for frac sand - a form of industrial sand called proppant in energy-industry parlance - or for sands and gravels used for other purposes, like road construction. State, county and local governments that regulate frac sand and other operations categorize them as "non-metallic mining." Officials are not just concerned with what happens while a mine is actively extracting resources, but also with how operators recondition the land when things wind down. The process is called reclamation, and is intended to prepare the site of a non-metallic mine for whatever use may come next. Bronson Thalacker is a technician and specialist with the Barron County Soil and Water Conservation Department. He monitors non-metallic mines to make sure their operators comply with the Barron County Non-Metallic Mining Ordinance and the rules in chapter 135 of regulations enforced by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Thalacker outlined the reclamation process for non-metallic mine sites in a July 31, 2015 presentation at the Barron Area Community Center in Barron. His talk was recorded for Wisconsin Public Television's University Place. Thalacker detailed where reclamation fits into the overall process of permitting and regulating mines, what regulators look for in a successful reclamation project, and even some of the finer points of reshaping a well-used plot of land, like drainage and bringing in new soil. As detailed in a DNR map of industrial sand mines and processing plants, as of May 2016 only mining sites in the state had completed reclamation or were in the final stages of the process. While reclamation is still a fairly new process, Thalacker did discuss how some former sand- and gravel-mining sites in Barron County were converted to other uses. * Key Facts
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This post was originally published on WisContext, which produced the article in a partnership between Wisconsin Public Radio, Wisconsin Public Television and Cooperative Extension. - Previously in Wisconsin: * Wisconsin Cheese Production Continues To Grow. * Wisconsin's Specialty Cheesemakers May Be Better Off Than Other States. * Tips For Growing Blueberries In Wisconsin. * Amid A Boom, Wisconsin Cranberry Growers Look To Future Markets. * The Top 10 Wisconsin Insect Trends Of 2016. * Wisconsin's Penokees Are A Geologic Gem. * Wisconsin Researchers Aim To Make Cows Happier. * Wisconsin And The Extinction Of The Passenger Pigeon. - Posted on July 18, 2017 |
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