"More and more people are waking up to the fact that there are difficulties with this massive explosion," said Pat Popple, a retired school teacher and principal and anti-sand mining activist.
U.S. frac sand producers sold or used more than 6.5 million metric tons of sand worth $319 million in 2009, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The tonnage likely will have doubled when 2010 data is released, said Thomas Dolley, a USGS mineral commodity specialist who follows the silica mining industry.
"It's huge," Dolley said. "I've never seen anything like it, the growth. It makes my head spin."
Construction crews building a border wall in New Mexico were ordered to stop drilling new wells...
Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States, has plummeted to its lowest water level...
Three major wildfires burning near Spokane, Washington, caused authorities to declare a state of emergency and...
