Nonprofit Will Investigate Effects Frac Sand Mining Has On Neighboring Communities

A Wisconsin nonprofit focused on public health will spend the next year looking at the possible health and social impacts frac sand mining has on neighboring communities.

With the help of a $100,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts, the Institute for Wisconsin’s Health will analyze data on potential air and groundwater pollution, along with any social impacts the growing industry has had on western Wisconsin.

Institute Executive Director Nancy Young their only aim is education.

“The end goal is to come up with a very useful report that takes the best information we have available and turns it into some recommendations that are practical for policymakers to use,” said Young.

Partnering on the study are 14 counties in western Wisconsin, the Ho-Chunk Nation and the University of Iowa. A finished report is expected by next November.