Frac Sand Mining Overview

Frac Sand Mining

Sand has been mined in Wisconsin for some time now but with the recent invention of Horizontal Drilling, we are able to access more oil and gas than ever before. One common technique of extracting that oil is hydraulic Fraccing. Hydraulic Fraccing is the process of drilling and pumping water, chemicals, and Frac sand into the ground at a high pressure. This causes the shale beneath us to crack and the Frac sand is then used to hold those cracks so that we can extract oil from places that were not accessible before. Now we have been using this technique for a while but now with horizontal drilling we are able to drill one hole into the ground and when we get to the appropriate depth, we have numerous pipes shooting out in all directions that can then recover much more oil than before.

Map showing the location of sandstone in the State and the distribution of Frac Sand Mines (as of October 2012).
Accessed at: http://wcwrpc.org/frac-sand-factsheet.pdf

                Now Frac sand is more than just the run of the mill quartz we are used to. It is high quality quartz that is of a specific size and is very resistant but smooth and round. This sand is found in abundance in the sandstones of Wisconsin, specifically western Wisconsin. As you can imagine, this has caused a frenzy to mine that sand for economic gain. Some have made of quite well while others have not. Proponents argue that the mining of this sand is good for the local economy as well as the state and federal economies too. Opponents say that the process of mining the sand is bad for the environment and will destroy landscapes that have stood for hundreds of years. This argument has pitted families in Wisconsin against each other and has created many Hatfield and McCoy type scenarios. It gotten to the point of where so many people are so one sided for one side or the other that they have become blind to the facts and base all their arguments purely on emotion. 

This is a great illustration of why this is such a hot topic in Wisconsin, you can see that the best Frac Sand is really only found in abundance in Wisconsin.
 Accessed at:  http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/Mines/documents/SilicaSandMiningFinal.pdf

                However, luckily for us we have GIS! In this blog we will use GIS to help us answer some basic questions around Frac sand mining. Using GIS our class will investigate many aspects of Frac mining from transportation to prime locations for mines. This class project will remain subjective in the sense of what we are studying, but you will periodically hear my opinion on the subject matter. So join me in exploring the variety of tools in ArcGIS that we can use to study Frac Sand Mining in Western Wisconsin, specifically our study area of Trempealeau County.

Sources:

http://www.wqow.com/story/28183900/2015/02/24/public-will-have-chance-to-share-questions-concerns-about-frac-sand

http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/Mines/Deposit.html

http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/Mines/documents/SilicaSandMiningFinal.pdf