When the Hills Are Gone: Frac Sand Mining and the Struggle for Community

Confronting the Next BoomAcknowledgmentsNotesIndex. Where You Live5. Dangers Unseen4. ContentsIntroduction: Magic Mineral1. Low Hanging Fruit3. Save Our Hills2. Neighbors6. In Pursuit of Local Democracy7

In Wisconsin it has ignited an unprecedented explosion in the state’s sand mining operations, an essential ingredient in hydraulic fracturing that has shaken local communities to the core.In When the Hills Are Gone, Thomas W. A source of extraordinary wealth for a lucky few, and the cause of despoiled land for many others, sand mining has raised alarm over air quality, water purity, noise, blasting, depressed tourism, and damage to the local way of life. Providing on-the-ground accounts from both the mining industry and the concerned citizens who fought back, Pearson blends social theory, ethnography, stirring journalism, and his own passionate point of view to offer an essential chapter of Wisconsin’s history and an important episode in the national environmental movement. Fracking is one of the most controversial methods of fossil fuel extraction in the United States, but a great deal about it remains out of the public eye. It has also spurred a backlash in a grassroots effort that has grown into a mature political movement battling a powerful mining industry.When the Hills Are Gone tells the story of Wisconsin’s sand mining wars. Pearson reveals the jolting impact of sand mining on Wisconsin’s environment and politics. Digging deep into the struggle