Testimony of Ken Schmitt: EPA Hearing, Denver, CO, "Clean Power Plan Rule," July 29, 2014 

I am Ken Schmitt. My wife Laura and I both come from a long line of farmers dating back to the 1800's. 

Along with our 4 children ages 3 to 9, we raise grass-fed beef in Western Chippewa County, Wisconsin. 

We now live on the Southern edge of an industrial frac-sand mining district which extends North 

across the county line into Barron County. Prior to 2008 none of us dreamed that our agricultural area 

would ever be degraded so much in 6 short years. Frac sand is needed to extract hard to reach natural 

gas and oil deposits, and it is mined from the sandstone that underlies much of Wisconsin. We now 

have more industrial sand mines in these 2 counties than existed in the entire state 10 years ago. 

The Village of New Auburn straddles the county line. Within 7 miles of the village there are more than 

11 frac-sand mines with over 3000 acres permitted since mid 2011. Most of these are expected to 

expand in the next few years. There are also 4 frac-sand drying plants within about 4 miles of the 

village with talk of possibly 2 more. All of these industrial frac-sand facilities — totaling about 150 in 

Wisconsin - have received air permits from DNR, which acts as the enforcement agency for the EPA 

under the Clean Air Act. 

DNR has permitted all of these facilities without considering the fugitive dust sources of each facility, 

using the same 2.5 micron ambient air rating without counting cumulative air impacts of multiple 

facilities or emissions from the transporting of the sand. No regulating agency in Wisconsin requires 

any monitoring for 2.5 particulate or crystalline silica, so no one knows what hazards citizens around 

these facilities face in Wisconsin . Is waiting for people to get sick from toxic air pollutants fulfilling 

either the EPA or DNR's responsibility to protect citizens, as required by the Clean Air Act? 

Many of these facilities also use well water for washing of the sand, degrading our freshwater 

resources, and permanently ruin many acres of very productive farmland. I believe this rule will simply 

trade the environmental issues of coal for the environmental issues of natural gas and further drive 

the destruction of farmland and degradation of freshwater in Wisconsin. The same degradation is 

occurring in the areas where gas and oil is actually extracted. We as a nation need to dedicate 

substantial resources to the research and development of technology to store energy generated from 

wind and solar on a large scale. If we can accomplish that then we will be well on our way to moving 

past the fossil fuel age. Sooner or later we need to move beyond fossil fuels because they are a finite 

resource. Wouldn't it be better to do it on our time table than on the resource's time table ? We are 

wrecking far too much of our productive arable farmland & clean fresh drinking water in this country 

to get the last bit of fossil fuels. Humans have gotten along without oil and gas for thousands of years, 

but we can't survive without food and drinkable water. How short-sighted can we be? What kind of 

legacy are we leaving our children and grandchildren? 

Ken Schmitt 4488 120thAve. Colfax, WI 54730 715-568-5508 
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