Results of IPP study: Frac sand mining would have negative NE Iowa impact

by Lissa Blake

“Trout fishing enthusiasts should be worried - but so should anyone who drinks water in the northeastern corner of Iowa.”
That statement is according to Dr. David Osterberg of the Iowa Policy Project (IPP), a nonpartisan public policy research and analysis organization based in Iowa City. Osterberg and Aaron Kline, a graduate student in the School of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Iowa, released the results of a study conducted by IPP this past week, which addresses the public health impact of frac sand mining in northeast Iowa.
Oesterberg, who, in addition to doing research for IPP works in the University of Iowa’s Occupational and Environmental Health Department, shared the IPP study results with the Allamakee County Protectors (ACP) as they were related to a separate frac sand mining study already in the works. In July, the Allamakee County Protectors and Winneshiek County Protectors (WCP) were contacted by Oesterberg to discuss a study which will be a collaboration between the University of Iowa (U of I) and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (U of W). The U of I/U of W study was initiated after WCP were contacted by Osterberg regarding grant monies available through the National Institute of Health. The study on the public health impact of frac sand mining in northeast Iowa will come at no cost to either Allamakee or Winneshiek County.
In the IPP study, Osterberg and Kline said, “The environmental and aesthetic assets of Northeast Iowa may be threatened by the growing attraction of the area for this specialty sand mining.”
The study cites potential impacts of declining water quantity, water quality issues and harm to tourism in Iowa’s “Bluff Country.” It references a U.S. Travel Association report that Allamakee and Winneshiek counties generated approximately $68 million in domestic travel expenditures leading to over 500 travel-related jobs in 2012.
“Contrast that … to the short-term promise of frac sand mining … This can be a terribly risky proposition, and local officials are right to be asking questions about it and wanting assurances they can protect their region,” said Osterberg.
With regard to policy making, Osterberg and Kline noted, “Iowa lawmakers have a history of preempting local government from regulating in some areas,” and referred to “the state’s preemption of local government actions to regulate confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs).”
Osterberg said in conversations he has had, local citizens who petitioned for the moratoria (in Winneshiek and Allamakee counties), “will resist any state action to take away local control.”
In moving forward, Osterberg said counties have several options with regard to potential ordinances, including hydrologic mapping, local well monitoring, sinkhole setbacks and trout stream setbacks.

When asked for a comment, Ric Zarwell, President of Allamakee County Protectors-Education Campaign, said, “I feel the comprehensive report by Osterberg and Kline is an excellent and timely piece of work. The report not only outlines the very serious consequences of frac sand mining away the landscapes of northeast Iowa, it also explains in detail why this is so, and gives numerous references. I hope this report is read in its entirety by both residents and visitors to our beautiful corner of Iowa.”
To view the complete Iowa Policy Project report online, visit iowapolicyproject.org/2014docs/140130-fracsand.pdf.