"NEW AUBURN, Wisc. -- Frances Sayles is cleaning her counters and vacuuming her home more often in an attempt to keep a never-ending stream of sand at bay. But it is not just the cleaning that concerns her. She also worries about her health."
"'It bothers me because I have asthma and I have trouble breathing at night, especially,' said Sayles, a retired certified nursing assistant. 'I’m a very healthy person other than that.'
Sayles lives with her husband, Dean, in the village of New Auburn. There are two frac sand processing plants on the edges of the village, which straddles Barron and Chippewa counties.
The state has at least 115 permitted or operational frac sand mines and processing plants, according to a tally by the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism. The state’s sand is in demand for use in the process of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking."
Alison Dirr reports for the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism October 6, 2013.
