A controversy is brewing at the State Capitol on whether to end or severely restrict mining of silica sand because of the potential environmental concerns. These concerns have been inflamed by a Hollywood propaganda film "Promised Land,” filled with misleading information. The film claims, among other things, that families in Pennsylvania had their groundwater contaminated because of “fracking” for natural gas. Fracking is a process using silica sand in drilling for natural gas in America. With large reserves of silica sand in South East Minnesota, fracking has the potential to create thousands of high-paying jobs in our state.
Following the release of the Promised Land, both the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the Federal EPA investigated claims made in the film and found no evidence of contamination. Simply put, this film was just another Hollywood environmentalist fraud, financed by the Middle East oil cartel, OPEC (Source: Investors Business Daily, 12/24/12, Heritage Foundation report).
Americans need to realize that foreign countries selling billions of dollars of energy to the U.S. each year are, in some cases, financially supporting environmentalist organizations who promote laws and regulations to keep America from accessing its own abundant energy resources in an environmentally friendly way.
The United States is on the verge of the largest energy boom in our history with trillions of cubic feet of natural gas. We also have over 800 billion barrels of recoverable shale oil, three times the reserves of Saudi Arabia (Source: Rand Corporation). This means that all of America's liquid fuels can come from secure North American sources within 15 years. Not only can we become energy independent, but we can also stop funding Middle East terrorist organizations.
Accessing these natural resources will lower energy costs for families and businesses in Minnesota and create tens of thousands of high-paying jobs. I will continue to support the development of our own natural resources, including hydraulic fracking, clean coal energy and the repeal of the nuclear power plant ban. I welcome your comments.
State Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen