The frac sand facilities on the map are classified by their current operational status. The authors argued that this economic value could lead to higher employment in the gas production and delivery sectors. MPR News has created this map to illustrate the current level of frac sand mining in Minnesota, based on data from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, and several counties in the affected areas.
• Active: means the facility is currently mining, processing or transporting frac sand. Click here to contact us for media inquiries, and please donate here to support our continued expansion. Content is available under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. Operations: Meghann Olshefski • Lauren Dixon • Kelly Rindfleisch • Sara Antel • Sara Horton. The study's authors argued that natural gas costs in the year 2040 would be 70 percent higher without increased development of natural gas through fracking. Additionally, the study's authors said that up to 250,000 jobs could be created by the year 2020 due to fracking. Currently, no state agency oversees silica sand mining, but the MPCA and the DNR often review permits that most mines need for things like using groundwater or discharging wastewater. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), there were approximately 23,000 hydraulically fractured wells in the United States in 2000. Some proposed mines fall outside of these areas.
Map of quartz-rich sandstone with 50 feet of surface in Minnesota.
The highest concentration of active frac sand facilities is in and around the city of Winona. Air pollution from fracking contributes to the formation of ozone “smog,” which reduces lung function among healthy people, triggers asthma attacks, and has been linked to increases in school absences, hospital visits and premature death.
This report seeks to quantify some of the key impacts of fracking to date—including the production of toxic wastewater, water use, chemicals use, air pollution, land damage and global warming emissions. The study's authors argued, "While fracking an unconventional shale gas or oil well takes much more water than drilling a conventional oil or gas well, the study finds that compared to other energy extraction methods, fracking is less water-intensive in the long run." Map of fracking locations, health issues & illnesses caused by living in close proximity to oil and natural gas fracking sites. The sand is shot in to keep the fractures propped open so that the oil and gas can be removed. Ballotpedia features 318,728 encyclopedic articles written and curated by our professional staff of editors, writers, and researchers. Over the past decade, the oil and gas industry has fused two technologies—hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling—in a highly polluting effort to unlock oil and gas in underground rock formations across the United States. A March 2015 study by the Brookings Institution, whose stated mission is "to conduct in-depth research that leads to new ideas for solving problems facing society at the local, national and global level," estimated that natural gas prices were 47 percent lower in 2013 than they would have been without an increase in fracking operations. Forests and farmland have been replaced by well pads, roads, pipelines and other gas infrastructure, resulting in the loss of wildlife habitat and fragmentation of remaining wild areas.
if(document.getElementsByClassName("reference").length==0) if(document.getElementById('Footnotes')!==null) document.getElementById('Footnotes').parentNode.style.display = 'none'; Communications: Kristen Vonasek • Kayla Harris • Megan Brown • Mary Dunne • Sarah Groat • Heidi Jung 2400x2111 / 1,43 Mb Go to Map. The information below summarizes studies and other reports on the economic impact of fracking throughout in the United States, and links to the studies are provided below. The process involves injecting fluid into subterranean rock formations at high pressure. • alerts on new threats to Minnesota's environment
The areas of silica sand indicated on the map have been identified by the Minnesota Geological Survey as the best locations for mining, based on the high level of quartz present in the layers of sandstone in those areas, and the deposits’ proximity to the surface (50 feet deep or less). To ensure that the oil and gas industry—rather than taxpayers, communities or families—pays the costs of fracking damage, policymakers should require robust financial assurance from fracking operators at every well site. Campaign finance requirements in Minnesota, Campaign finance requirements for Minnesota ballot measures, Ballot access requirements for political candidates in Minnesota, Ballot access requirements for political parties in Minnesota, Ballot access requirements for presidential candidates in Minnesota, Oil and gas extraction on federal land in Minnesota, Effect of the Affordable Care Act in Minnesota, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, Read about Minnesota's state energy profile », https://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php?title=Fracking_in_Minnesota&oldid=7027581, Tracking election disputes, lawsuits, and recounts, Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing, Submit a photo, survey, video, conversation, or bio. Any other review or permitting of mining activities is left to authorities on the county or municipal level. These toxics can enter drinking water supplies from leaks and spills, through well blowouts, and through the failure of disposal wells receiving fracking wastewater. A fracked well can use approximately 10,000 tons of industrial silica sand to prop open fissures and increase the flow of fluids and gas within a well. Induced seismic events (e.g., smaller earthquakes and tremors) can be the result of mining, damming rivers, or injecting fluids into underground wells during fracking.
Minnesota Tourist Map. According to the EPA, as of 2015 few disposals wells had produced earthquakes with a magnitude above 4 on the Richter scale (for comparison, an earthquake with a magnitude of 3 is similar to the passage of a nearby truck).[33]. Additionally, Hausman and Ryan argued that increased fracking operations outpaced data collection on the environmental impacts of fracking.
In Minnesota, glacial drift and other bedrock layers commonly exist on top of the sandstone. • Proposed: means the facility has submitted paperwork to be approved for frac sand operations. It's the most comprehensive map to date showing frac sand mining activity in Minnesota. Once brought to the surface, this toxic waste poses hazards for drinking water, air quality and public safety: Water use: Fracking requires huge volumes of water for each well. • resources to help you create a cleaner, greener future.
In addition to other health threats, many of these chemicals have the potential to cause cancer. In New Mexico alone, waste pits from all oil and gas drilling have contaminated groundwater on more than 400 occasions. Federal officials should also protect America’s natural heritage by keeping fracking away from our national parks, national forests, and sources of drinking water for millions of Americans.
In 2015, the United States contained approximately 300,000 hydraulically fractured wells, which accounted for 67 percent of U.S. natural gas production and 51 percent of U.S. crude oil production. GDP does not include unpaid services, such as volunteering, but does include some government activity, such as education services. Further, the study's authors found that fracking operations produced approximately 210 billion gallons of wastewater.
The authors found that state regulators face uncertainty about how to focus on mitigating specific environmental concerns as a result. Thus, in order to compare GDP figures across time, the measurements need to be adjusted for inflation (real GDP). This accounted for less than 1 percent of total industrial water use in the United States.
As noted previously, underground disposal of wastewater co-produced with oil and gas, enabled by hydraulic fracturing operations, has been linked to induced earthquakes. National Environmental and Public Health Impacts of Fracking, Toxic Wastewater Produced in 2012 (billion gallons), Chemicals Used since 2005 (billion gallons), Global Warming Pollution since 2005 (million metric tons CO2-equivalent). For more information on the December 2016 study, see this article.
The oil and gas industry is seeking to bring fracking into our national forests, around several of our national parks, and in watersheds that supply drinking water to millions of Americans. That conclusion was deleted in the report's final version. The information below summarizes studies and other reports on the environmental impact of fracking throughout in the United States, and links to the studies are provided below.
This article focuses on fracking in Minnesota and state-specific, rather than federal, regulation of the process. USGS’s studies suggest that the actual hydraulic fracturing process is only very rarely the direct cause of felt earthquakes. Minnesota road map. Air pollution: Fracking-related activities release thousands of tons of health-threatening air pollution.
1641x1771 / 370 Kb Go to Map. External Relations: Alison Prange • Sara Key • Sarah Rosier • Kari Berger Specifically, the EPA concluded that, in some circumstances, poorly constructed drilling wells and incorrect wastewater management affected drinking water resources, particularly near drilling sites. Toxic wastewater: Fracking produces enormous volumes of toxic wastewater—often containing cancer-causing and even radioactive material. Hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, is a method of oil and natural gas extraction that involves injecting fluid into subterranean rock formations at high pressure.