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Sand Mining for Fracking in Texas
June 16, 2011 | Clean Water, Fracking, Most Endangered Rivers, Protecting Rivers
Jessie Thomas-Blate
Coordinator, Most Endangered Rivers
On our 2011 list of America’s Most Endangered Rivers™, we highlighted many types of mining, from uranium to copper and gold to coal. It is no secret that extractive industries tend to be hard on the environment.
When we listed our #1 Most Endangered River this year, the Susquehanna River, for natural gas development, we had not pointed out its connection to mining. Fracking requires sand that is...you guess it...mined!
In 2006 [PDF], we listed the San Jacinto River in Texas for the threat of sand mining as one of America’s Most Endangered Rivers. Apparently, another river in Texas, Mountain Creek, is now threatened with this same practice and the sand would be destined for fracking in the Barnett Shale.
One of the largest independent oil and gas companies in the United States plans to create a new sand mine on the banks of Mountain Creek – a mile above its confluence with the Red River. This sand mine has the potential to ravage the landscape, destroy fish and wildlife habitat, pollute air and water, and once finished, they are not required to reclaim the land.
Incredibly, this project will use up to 3,700 gallons of water per minute, or 5.3 million gallons per day – much of it drawn from groundwater in north Texas aquifers. For a comparison, the average municipal customer in Dallas uses around 182 gallons per day. That is a lot of water for a region of the country that is constantly battling drought.
But we can do something about it right now.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) is accepting comments on an air quality permit for this project, which gives the public an opportunity to provide comments and to request a public meeting.
TAKE ACTION: If you live in Texas, you can submit comments online here. Deadline for public comments is June 24.
In comments, you must reference permit number 95412 and the applicant’s name (EOG, Inc). Please request a public meeting as this will give our partners more opportunity to influence this development. For further information, including issues to address in your comment letter, please go to: http://trinityaquifer.blogspot.com.
By the way, this sand mining for fracking is not just happening in Texas. Here is a story from Wisconsin that talks about the need to achieve a balance with sand mining.
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Comments List
Submitted by Nancy J. at: December 9, 2011
so, now it's December 2011; what has happened? Use of municipal water for other purposes has made the news, but no agency or city has stopped the gas companies. People are stunned that so much precious water (we are in severe drought) is allowed to be used. Indications are that fracking leads to the earthquakes in the Cleburne area, but no one is stopping them. So, what now?
Submitted by Ozlem Altiok at: June 18, 2011
Thank you for covering this story. While the spotlight is on the negative impacts of hydro-fracking for oil and gas, mining and processing sand into 'frac sand' is not much talked about. That has to change. Starting here with rural, suburban and urban Texans we all need to rethink our priorities. It is officially acknowledged that many places in Texas will have critical water shortages in 25 years. With frack sand operations (like this one of ENRON's http://trinityaquifer.blogspot.com) that scar the earth, pollute the rivers and consume exorbitant amounts of ground water, we will start seeing these shortages MUCH sooner than that. And then what?
Submitted by J'Lynn Hare at: June 17, 2011
I am so glad you have bought all of this to light!! Something needs to be done now, not 20 yrs from now when that LARGE company decides to take their money and run. Then close their doors, then open up under another name and not take care of what they have destroyed.