Wisconsin's Sand is a Big Fracking Deal

The oil & natural gas fracking boom in states like North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Texas has put the United States on track to become the world’s top natural gas producer by 2014 and top oil producer by 2017. This is good for US energy independence, creates jobs, keeps money in our economy, pays lots of taxes and in the long term will lower the cost of gas and oil for our cars and heating our homes. A recent study estimated that fracking supports about 1.7 million jobs in the United States. That number is expected to more than double to 3.5 million jobs.

While there is not any fracking going on in Wisconsin, the state does have an abundance of one of the key ingredients in the process: sand.

Fracking, which is short for hydraulic fracturing, involves drilling down into the ground until hitting a layer of oil shale, then drilling sideways. Once the well is dug, a mixture of sand and water is pumped in at high pressures. This enables us to get oil and natural gas now trapped thousands of feet within the earth.

Not just any sand can be used for fracking. For the best results, the frac sand must be a certain size, a certain shape, and composed of almost pure quartz. Western and Central Wisconsin is home to some of the best frac sand in the world, and frac sand mining is growing the state’s economy. In an area that used to have high unemployment in the trucking industry, there is now a shortage of truck drivers. People are getting back to work because of frac sand, and that is a good thing. More jobs means more money for families, less dependence on the government and more people paying taxes.