How Fracking’s Appetite for Sand Is Devouring Rural Communities

Last week I published an essay in SAPIENS titled "How Fracking’s Appetite for Sand Is Devouring Rural Communities." It draws on material from my book and describes how frac sand mining has upended some people's lives in Dovre, Wisconsin.

Their stories highlight the deep emotional distress that occurs when connections to place and community are suddenly ruptured.

The essay is accompanied by a photo slideshow. You can find it here:

Thomas W. Pearson, "How Fracking’s Appetite for Sand Is Devouring Rural Communities," SAPIENS, May 4, 2018.

https://www.sapiens.org/culture/fracking-rural-wisconsin/

It's out! When the Hills Are Gone

Yes, it's finally here! After a long and sometimes intense process, When the Hills Are Gone was released in print last week.

When all is said and done, this book project lasted over five years from the start of research to the end product. Research began in early 2012 and I started putting pen to paper while the fieldwork was ongoing, publishing an article in 2013. I drafted a formal book proposal and three sample chapters in early 2015. After positive feedback from three university presses all interested in the project, I signed a contract with the University of Minnesota Press in September 2015. I then delivered a full manuscript by June of 2016 and a final manuscript by October of last year. I went through the copy edits in March and April of 2017, and then the final page proofs this past June and July. And now here it is:

An overlooked part of fracking’s environmental impact becomes a window into the activists and industrial interests fighting for the future of energy production—and the fate of rural communities 

WHEN THE HILLS ARE GONE: Frac Sand Mining and the Struggle for Community
By Thomas W. Pearson
University of Minnesota Press - November 2017

When the Hills Are Gone tells the story of Wisconsin’s sand mining wars. Providing on-the-ground accounts from both the mining industry and the concerned citizens who fought back, Thomas W. Pearson blends social theory, ethnography, stirring journalism, and his own passionate point of view to offer an essential chapter of Wisconsin’s history and an important episode in the national environmental movement.

PRAISE FOR WHEN THE HILLS ARE GONE:

“Thomas W. Pearson takes us to the front lines of one of the great under-reported environmental issues in America today—how the fracking industry’s hunger for sand is impacting rural Wisconsin. His deep research and intimate portraits of people on all sides of the controversy make this an important and timely read for anyone concerned about our country’s environment, natural resources, and what happens when the needs of big business collide with those of ordinary citizens.” —Vince Beiser, journalist

"When the Hills Are Gone is a riveting, sobering story about local democracy at the whipped-around tail-end of the frack-driven oil and gas boom that has rocked the United States since the turn of the millennium. The writing is lively and reflective—deftly portraying the many micro-tactics through which local democracy can be undercut and the many kinds of people working against this in rural Wisconsin. This is critical reading for understanding contemporary politics on the ground."—Kim Fortun, University of California, Irvine

“A masterful blend of stories and scholarship that will be the definitive account of a major environmental justice issue. Thomas W. Pearson is fair-minded and unflinching as he traces the erasure of place and the scramble to salvage community and democracy.” —Adam Briggle, author of A Field Philosopher’s Guide to Fracking

“The churning engine of the global energy economy always touches down in local places, sometimes to brutal effect. Thomas W. Pearson provides a compelling and deeply personal story of one such place, the sand hills of Wisconsin. Both an ethnography and a study of state and local politics, When the Hills Are Gone richly describes community divisions and sudden activism in places where disruptive environmental change is ongoing.” —Paul Robbins, director, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Thomas W. Pearson is associate professor of anthropology and assistant director of the Honors College at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. His research has been published in American Anthropologist, Cultural Anthropology, American Ethnologist, Human Organization, and other academic journals. He lives in Menomonie, Wisconsin.

For more information, including the table of contents, visit the book's webpage:

https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/when-the-hills-are-gone

STHA 2017 Annual Meeting

Effective Communication and Civic Engagement: 

Strategies, Techniques & Importance

Save the Hills Alliance 2017 Annual Meeting

Saturday, October 21, 2017 – 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Roger Marten Community Center

120 S. Franklin Street, Mondovi, WI

 (Just South of US-10 in the City of Mondovi)

               Speaker, LeAnn R. Ralph, is a staff writer for the Colfax Messenger and the Glenwood City Tribune Press Reporter. She has been writing for newspapers for 20 years and also has written for the Dunn County News, the Country Today and the Janesville Gazette. LeAnn earned an undergraduate degree in English with a writing emphasis from UW-Whitewater, and she earned a Master of Arts in Teaching from UW-Whitewater. LeAnn is the author of five books of true stories about growing up on a small family dairy farm in West Central Wisconsin. She has been covering frac sand mines since the first mine in this area was proposed by Fairmount Minerals near Menomonie in 2006 and has written about proposals for sand mines, reclamation permits, environmental impacts, public hearings, conditional use permits, mine licensing agreements, the state Supreme Court decision regarding the Town of Cooks Valley, and boreholes. LeAnn also serves as a supervisor on the Otter Creek Town Board in Dunn County.

Presentation: Communicating in a Democracy: Letters to the Editor and speaking to elected officials. The four strands of the language arts — reading, writing, speaking and listening — are an important component of a participatory democracy. Writing Letters to the Editor for local newspapers, speaking during public comments sections of county boards, town boards, village boards and city councils and contacting state representatives and senators are an essential part of civic engagement. If you do not let elected officials know what you are thinking about a particular issue, such as frac sand mining, and how it will impact the environment, and your communities and neighborhoods, including roads and property values, they will not know their constituents’ positions. During this presentation you will learn more about communicating effectively through Letters to the Editor and will work on writing a letter. Editors love to publish letters from local residents on issues that will affect the community — with an emphasis on local, because they know their readers enjoy reading Letters to the Editor. Broadcasting a more generic Letter to the Editor to all 400+ newspapers in the state is not nearly as effective. During this presentation you will also learn more about communicating with elected officials — how to go about it, what to say and when to say it, and you will work on your own set of talking points that you can take to your next town board meeting, county board meeting or listening session of a state legislator. Let your voice be heard. Speak up!

                Speaker, Ken Tschumper, is a retired dairy farmer who lives with his wife, Robin, near La Crescent, Minnesota on a farm his great grandparents homesteaded in 1867. He graduated from Winona State University in 1972 with a Degree in Biology. A life-long progressive Democrat, Ken has been involved in politics since the Vietnam War. He has served on the Governor’s Dairy Task Force, an Advisory Board to the Land Stewardship Project, and on the La Crescent Town Board. In 2006, Ken was elected to a term in the Minnesota Legislature. Among other committees, he served on the Health and Human Services Committee and was the chief author of the Minnesota Single Payer Healthcare bill, convincing 30 other members of the House to sign on as co-sponsors. He passed an update of the State Groundwater Protection Bill and was the only freshman legislator appointed to the Conference Committee for the Clean Indoor Air Act which eliminated smoking in public places and exposure to second hand smoke. In the last five years Ken and his wife, Robin, have spent their time and energy working to stop frac sand mining in southeastern Minnesota.

               Presentation: We Need to Think Faster, Smarter and Bigger. Ken’s presentation will focus on techniques for better communications to and for individuals, groups and the public, especially using some aspects of current technology. He feels strongly that the anti-frac sand mining movement and other progressive movements, as well, have the potential to be much more effective and produce much more positive results.

Presented by Save the Hills Alliance (STHA), Inc. 

Glenn Stoddard, 1958-2017

I was very saddened to learn that Glenn Stoddard passed away last month after a recurrence of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. Stoddard was an environmental and civil rights lawyer who represented many citizens and grassroots groups fighting against the expansion of frac sand mining in their communities.

Prior to opening Stoddard Law Office in 2005 in Eau Claire, Stoddard practiced law in Madison with Ed Garvey, who was known, among other things, as the founder of Fighting Bob Fest, an annual event celebrating Wisconsin's progressive political traditions. For many years, Garvey and Stoddard, S.C. was one of the most influential civil rights and environmental law firms in Wisconsin.

As frac sand mining emerged and matured as an issue, Stoddard spoke frequently at public forums and helped educate concerned citizens and local officials about the tools available to regulate or deter frac sand mining. At at time when many area law firms cultivated ties to the ballooning frac sand industry, Stoddard was viewed as an independent, trustworthy community advocate and defender of the environment.

In relation to frac sand mining, Stoddard was probably best known for developing a nonmetallic mining licensing ordinance for Cooks Valley in 2008, an unzoned township in Chippewa County. After drafting what was then an innovative ordinance, he assisted in defending the town when it was sued by mining interests. In the 2012 landmark decision of Zwiefelhofer v. Town of Cooks Valley, the Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld the right of towns to regulate frac sand mining through such licensing ordinances. The ruling was a significant juncture in what remains an ongoing battle over the rights of local communities when confronting harmful land-use practices introduced by powerful corporate interests.

In addition to his work on frac sand mining issues, Stoddard also formed part of the legal team opposing the Gogebic Taconite Mine in the Penokees and he was involved in many other prominent environmental cases. Stoddard's obituary, which he wrote in his final days, was published in the Ashland Daily Press and the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram.

Winona County, MN, frac sand ban

Even with the recent lull in the regional frac sand market, Winona County, in Minnesota, recently adopted an ordinance that bans further development of industrial sand mining operations.

• Karen Zamora and Josephine Marcotty, "Winona County passes frac sand ban, first in the state to take such a stand," StarTribune, November 22, 2016. 

Frac sand mining has been a contentious issue in Winona for several years and the ban represents an assertion of local control. Members of the Land Stewardship Project (LSP), a Minnesota-based non-profit, had pushed for the ban since June of 2015. According to a statement by the LSP:

"The County Board passed the ban by a 3-2 vote in the form of an amendment to Winona County’s existing zoning ordinance. It prohibits any new operations for the production of industrial minerals, including the silica sand used in hydraulic fracturing."

The ban comes amid signs that frac sand mining may begin to intensify once again following a two-year downturn.

Resources for Understanding SB 632 / AB 816

State lawmakers are once again discussing a proposed bill that would undermine local regulation of frac sand mining. On February 26, Senator Tiffany and Representative Ballweg introduced Senate Bill 632 and Assembly Bill 816, which would restrict local governments from applying new regulations to existing frac sand operations. Legislators have moved quickly, holding a joint committee meeting days later to gather testimony on the bill. Concerned citizens and others had less than a week to study the bill and raise questions, but dozens still appeared in Madison for a contentious committee hearing on Monday, March 3 (see reports on the hearing by Isthmus and Wisconsin Watch). The committee held a vote on Wednesday, March 5, approving the bill and passing it on to the full senate.

Defense of local democracy: An evolving regional grassroots response to frac sand mining

Over the past few years, dozens of local groups have formed in response to frac sand mining. Many of these groups are simply neighbors who began meeting in someone's kitchen, garage, or basement to study the impacts of frac sand mining and to find ways to express their concerns. In countless communities dealing with complex questions raised by mining, we've seen that concerned citizens help to strengthen and defend local democratic decision-making processes. 

When organized, citizens have helped to stop proposed operations that are viewed as incompatible with community well-being, such as mining operations near schools, residences, or sensitive nature reserves. Citizens have also played an important role in monitoring frac sand operations, pressuring local officials to create new ordinances or enforce existing regulations, and calling out local conflicts of interest. As with any grassroots effort, however, the longevity, size, organizational capacity, values, and influence of the groups vary widely and evolve over time. Some groups rise and fall quickly, especially as controversial proposals or operations fade from the public eye, while others might achieve an enduring presence in their community.

How frac sand gains local political support: Notes from Trempealeau County

Since the early days of the frac sand boom, many observers have been troubled by the close connections that the industry sometimes cultivates with local town and county officials. These connections underscore how the mining industry relies on both economic and political influence to achieve its goals. In some cases, the relationship between a public official and a private industry would appear to represent a conflict of interest, such as when a town supervisor or a supervisor's family members get into the frac sand business by leasing their land. In other cases, the connections are subtle and indirect, but still effective, such as when deeply rooted allegiances between old friends or distant family member are activated in support of a specific proposal. Whether overt or subtle, the entanglement of political and economic interests creates a decision-making climate that facilitates growth of the frac-sand industry. How does the mining industry secure the support of local elected officials and public employees? How do they cultivate a decision-making climate in which local officials sometimes feel they have no choice but to accommodate the interests of a controversial industry?

Questions in Trempealeau County, WI

Trempealeau County recently passed a one year moratorium on the permitting of new sand mining operations in order to study the industry's health impacts. Over the past few years, the county has permitted at least 26 frac sand operations, including mines, processing plants, and rail transload facilities, representing the largest concentration of permitted frac sand operations in Wisconsin.

Several factors account for the rapid growth of the industry in Trempealeau County, including regional geology and access to coveted transportation infrastructure such as rail lines. But another key factor appears to be a local political environment that accommodates and advances the interests of frac sand mining. Frac sand interests have been able to influence local politics through at least three channels: outspoken industry advocates on key committees, elected officials who enjoy financial ties to mining, and hiring local experts away from government positions.

Does annexation subvert local controls over frac sand mining?

As community involvement in the expansion of frac sand mining has become more organized and influential, it appears that industry has embraced annexation as a tactic to advance controversial frac sand projects.

Annexation law in Wisconsin allows cities and villages to increase their size through acquisition of contiguous land, a process often initiated at the request of landowners. Cities and villages sometimes view annexation as an economic development strategy that creates an increased tax base. Once a city or village annexes land, it is required to extend public services to its newly expanded jurisdiction.

Some frac sand operations have recently benefited from annexation, pursued to achieve a "friendlier" regulatory environment or to circumvent local opposition to controversial projects. Whether by intention or not, this tactic appears to subvert local democratic control over the decision-making process involving a contentious and rapidly-expanding industry.

Use of Annexation to Force Industry-friendly Regulations

In Trempealeau County, the frac sand industry has used annexation to secure a more lenient regulatory environment. As Tony Kennedy reports, for example, Trempealeau County issued an operating permit in 2011 for a mine in Preston Township opened by Winn Bay Sands LP of Saskatchewan. The permit limited hours of operation to weekdays, required air monitoring, and mandated periodic inspections of nearby homes. But in January 2012 the mine was sold for $200 million to Pennsylvania-based Preferred Sands. Founded by Michael O'Neill, a former Philadelphia banker and real estate executive, Preferred Sands then sought to have the property annexed to the City of Blair, a small municipality surrounded by Preston Township.

How to Dismantle Frac Sand Industry Rhetoric: Notes on the Resource Exploitation Framework

By Thomas W. Pearson, University of Wisconsin-Stout

A controversial issue such as frac sand mining is commonly seen as something "under debate," with at least two sides facing off and the truth lying somewhere in the middle. However, the two sides often talk past each other. In fact, I would even go so far as to suggest that at least two very different conversations are taking place (if not more). Each conversation represents a unique set of taken-for-granted assumptions and values, a conceptual or normative "framework" through which people view the world.

One such normative framework was on display at the Conference on Silica Sand Resources of Minnesota and Wisconsin. I'll call this framework, which is represented by the frac sand industry and its supporters, the resource exploitation framework. Held October 1-3 at the Earle Brown Heritage Center, Brooklyn Park, MN, the conference was organized by the Precambrian Research Center of the University of Minnesota-Duluth and the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, and sponsored by dozens of private corporations that operate in the mining and energy sectors. The first evening featured a keynote presentation by a retired ConocoPhillips executive, and a series of technical sessions were held the second day, attended by several hundred people. The third day was a regional tour of silica sand deposits, active mines, and other infrastructure. I attended the technical sessions on Day 2.

Deconstructing industry "framing" devices

The technical presentations I attended addressed such issues as the geological origins of silica sand, commercial uses of silica sand, including use in hydrofracking and drilling for oil and gas, and silica sand mining, processing, transportation, permitting, regulation, reclamation, and economic impacts. 

Across these presentations, it became clear that most speakers used a common rhetoric and operated within a shared conceptual framework that guided their view of frac sand issues. What I mean by conceptual framework is an underlying set of shared beliefs and values that remain tacit, never fully articulated, but which guide and organize a person's view of the world. These are filtering lenses, so to speak.

We all rely on such frameworks, sometimes referred to as our cultural belief system or worldview, to help us make sense of the complexities of the world around us. Conceptual frameworks are often supported by and embedded in specialized language or rhetoric. The language itself can work to "frame" or structure one's perspective, setting boundaries around what is talked about and how. Since these frameworks are usually unstated or taken-for-granted, one of the tasks of the social sciences is to identify their key elements, to raise them to the surface, so to speak, for discussion and critical analysis.

So what are some of the elements that constitute the resource exploitation framework?

Frac Sand and its Effect on Local Democracy

Local townships have recently been overwhelmed with proposals by frac sand mining companies, and many of us have scrambled to educate ourselves about the possible impacts of this rapidly growing industry. The impacts, however, go beyond sand.

For decades, social scientists have documented the efforts of mining companies to subvert local democratic control over land use decisions. Such trends have been observed in many places around the world where mining takes place and community members ask questions. When large corporations seek to extract natural resources, they often view the concerns of community members as a barrier to future profits.