City of Hampton:
“The sandy beaches lining the Chesapeake Bay are both
magnets for tourism and shields against surging storms, making them an integral
part of coastal communities. In turn, tax dollars are used to maintain and
expand beaches, whether it's through dredging offshore shoals, building rock groins
or in some cases, hauling in sand from out of state. Localities forced to buy
sand from suppliers — as Hampton had to do to replenish Buckroe Beach in late
2011 — are finding prices for the material have increased dramatically in
recent years.
Demand for silica-based sand increased 14 percent in the
past year, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The price followed demand,
rising to $44.78 per ton, an 82 percent increase from 2005. Generating that
demand is the increased use of hydraulic fracturing — often called ‘fracking’ —
by energy companies to extract natural gas from underground rock formations,
according to the USGS. According to the USGS, nearly 60 percent of the sand
consumed throughout the country in 2012 was used for fracking.
In 2013, nearly 26 millions tons of sand was used for
hydraulic fracturing, well-packing and cement mixtures. That total almost
exceeds the total amount of sand consumed by all industries just five years
ago, according to the USGS. The demand associated with hydraulic fracturing has
increased so rapidly that new mines have been opened to supply the material. As
approval of the fracking process expands, so will the demand for sand.”
~ Writes Robert Brauchle of the Daily Press
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