Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Campaigning For A Cause

I have been absent in the blogging world for awhile.
For a good reason I believe.

I have gotten myself wrapped up in our community over the proposal to build a sand transfer facility in my small town.

We had all heard rumors that the guys with suits and ties were looking at our area for a project to do with hauling silica sand.

If you are unaware of the new use for silica sand,
it is used in the oil and gas industry for fracking.

I am not going to go into the whole process of sand fracking for oil.
But I think everyone should take the time to learn what this process is doing to our land.

In my neck of the woods its not the oil they are after,
its the sand.


That pink shaded area in northern Illinois?
I am smack dab in the middle of it!

The big mines are all over Wisconsin.
Those poor people are just over run with all kinds of activities related to the mining business.

Now they are headed to our area looking for more places to mine.

One company is looking at my hometown to build a truck/rail transport facility.
This facility would haul mined and dried silica sand from a processing plant to be loaded onto rail cars on the BNSF rail line that runs through our town.


This proposed site is only a half a mile away from our local schools.

Our school children would be exposed to dangerous silica sand dust
(fugitive dust) every day they attend school.

Silicosis is a chronic lung disease caused by breathing in tiny bits of silica dust.
Chronic silicosis, the most common type of silicosis, usually occurs after 10 or more years of exposure to crystalline silica at low levels.


My sons farm house will sit 250 feet across the road from this sand plant.

This started as a hush, hush thing that the City Council thought they would hurry through.

Thankfully word got out and many of the area residents came to the meeting an voiced there concerns.

The Council members decided to hold off on a vote until November 12th.

I have been busy trying to read, learn, and contact others trying to get the word out that this facility is not good for our community.


This facility will sit on the edge of our little town. 
The Council will actually have to vote to annex the land into city limits.
But the farmers living next door have no vote.
Nor does my son.
They don't live inside of the city limits.

I have stood up for a cause I think worth while.
Done things I never thought I could do.
 Talk in front of the City Zoning of Appeals Board.
Questioning the representatives of this multi billion dollar company.
Speaking my mind at the last public meeting in front of the City Council members.
Starting a FB page against this facility.


I still have lots of things to work on before the vote.
Many more people to talk to.

We as a community need to unite and stand up for our next generation.

They will be left to clean up this mess.



Liz


15 comments:

  1. Sounds like you have been busy, but sounds like for a good cause,too!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good luck, your hard work will make a difference. Too many small town and communities are lost to big business in the name of progress (for who we should all ask).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sadly that is true. What will our next generation face?

      Delete
  3. I live outside of Pacific MO and we have a silica plant here that mines in the caves. I think it is US Silica but we just call it the sand plant. It's a big operations but you can't really see more than the silo type things that sit along the roadside and tracks. I didn't know about the dangers from it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We have had a few sand plants in our area for years too. Now that the workers are older, many of them have been diagnosed with siliacosis. A danger they were not aware of.

      Delete
  4. I had no idea, so thank you for sharing this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I never really knew how dangerous it was either.

      Delete
  5. I had NO idea we had all of those in Wisconsin. Not in my county, but the one to the west and south - we have coal plants here. We did have a mining lease on our farm when we put the offer on it and even bought it. I am happy that they decided to let it run out. Like a year or so ago, there were these planes flying really low over all of our community with these things hanging from the plane. No one knew what it was, people thought the DNR all kinds of crazy rumors. Here it was a mining company. Apparently, it was rumored that a family that lives on the Eau Claire river by me found out they had gold on their property. The mining company was snooping around....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is crazy how these mining companies come snooping around when they hear the word money. I started reading about all of the mines that have just popped up in WI, just CRAZY! It is coming fast and furious in our area.

      Delete
  6. GOOD FOR YOU . . .
    I hope you can make the changes and eliminate this from happening!
    (Why did I think you lived in Alaska . . . .?)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the support! Thats funny you thought I was from Alaska. lol..

      Delete
  7. Ah LIZ!!!! This is nuts! I had no idea about this new movement....makes me sick! I am so proud of you for taking a stand against the suits. I just don't understand how people can create things like this knowing the ramifications of it! You keep going after it and please let us know if there is anything we can do! Nicole xo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the support Nicole! I have some stop fracking in Illinois petitions I may post on my blog. Stay warm on this cold day!

      Delete
  8. I hope you win your fight - stick to your guns. It's amazing how city councils try sneaking that kind of thing past us. You gotta stay on top of them. Thanks for stopping by my blog!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Good for you for fighting the fight! Nothing ever gets accomplished by those who sit on the couch and gripe. You will be proud of yourself no matter the outcome for speaking up for a good cause....

    ReplyDelete