November 2014
Nearly 100 Peoria area residents attended the documentary film “Triple Divide” at Illinois Central College October 28th, which was sponsored by Global Village, Peoria Families Against Toxic Waste, Illinois Central College student environmental group and HOI Sierra. CIHCA, and other groups participated in tabling at the event. The movie detailed air and water pollution from fracking in Pennsylvania and told the stories of numerous families whose water, health and lives were ruined by nearby fracking.
LaSalle County resident Rick Coleman spoke as part of a panel after the film. He talked about the huge expansion of sand mines in LaSalle County and how the dust, noise, and land destruction are changing the very nature of the area. He is fighting to protect his farm and water resources. Many of his neighbors have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in property values and many have moved away. There are ongoing risks to the local groundwater, area health, potential harm to Starved Rock State Park east canyons, and to the Illinois River. Much of LaSalle County is in the HOI Group area.
Typical fracking wells can use over 4 million gallons of fresh water per day. Fracking can use over 10,000 tons of the highest quality silica sand per well. This special sand is found in northern Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan. Sand mining expansion is part of the environmental harm from the fracking boom. The huge quarry type pits dug to remove the sand remain after mining and are part of the land devastation from fracking.