LyrArc Article Gist
Mines sending trainloads of northern white sand are now sitting  idle in Wisconsin , hurting jobs and local revenues to finance budgets of local government. Mines have closed in Wisconsin for this sand that is blasted into silica and used for shale oil production. This has cost jobs in a rural area near the Mississippi river which borders Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois. Even though these areas do not produce any oil and gas. Companies supplying trucks, lubricants and drilling tools are also affected all the way into Youngstown, Ohio, which provides pipe to the oil fracking areas in West Texas.

Frackers blast a mix of sand, water and chemicals into fossil fuel bearing rocky areas. Sand called northern white was considered very good for crush strength to prevent plugs and there is a lot of it beneath western Wisconsin topsoil. Once used by glassmakers and cranberry this became a useful source of supplies from 2015 onwards. Demand surged till 2018 when new supplies were found in West Texas which would reduce costs of transportation. Wages in these mining jobs were about $8 higher than other jobs for people with less education. After 2011 financial crisis and the loss of manufacturing jobs to China this provided a new source of higher paying jobs for less educated workers and paid for local government to provide services including in one town a new swimming pool for the recreation complex. This has proved to be temporary with many mines closing in 2019 and in 2020 after the pandemic.