The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County Read Online Free Page B

enjoyed farm work, appreciated having a chance to work with his father, who never once lost his patience when Ambrose had trouble trying to tell him something. About the only social contact Ambrose had was when he went to Link Lake for supplies, driving their trusty team and tying them up behind the Mercantile in a parking lot that still had a place to tie a team of horses, a hitching post left over from an earlier era. When he finished his brief shopping, using a list his mother provided, he often stopped at the Link Lake Library, where he spent an hour or so reading or deciding on a book or two that he would check out and take home with him. While at the library, he read several newspapers including the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal . He especially enjoyed reading books about nature—Emerson and Thoreau had become favorite authors of his.
    He also generally planned his trips to town to coincide with the meetings of the Link Lake Historical Society. He sat in back of the room at the meetings, not saying a word but taking in every nuance of what went on. Some members of the historical society ignored Ambrose because they knew of his strange ways and his difficulty speaking. But not Emily Higgins. She made a point of talking with Ambrose each time he attended a meeting and tried to make him feel welcome.

6
Marilyn and Stony Field
    A s Marilyn Jones waited for a phone call from La Crosse on this cool April day, she read Stony Field’s newest column, becoming more agitated by the minute.
    FIELD NOTES
    Fracking for the Future
    By Stony Field
    Have you heard about fracking? Neither had I until a couple years ago. Those who support the process see it as the answer to the United States’ energy problems. Hydraulic fracturing, fracking, is a relatively new process for reclaiming natural gas. According to these same sources, the United States has more than 2,500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas just waiting to be fracked.
    You are wondering how the process works? Well, as I understand it, all this natural gas embedded in gas-bearing shale deposits has just been sitting there waiting for these clever oil drillers to come up with a technology to release it from where it has been resting for thousands of years. For years oil drillers drilled straight down. With the new technology, they drill down and then make a sharp turn and drill horizontally. But there is more to it. All of this natural gas needs a little encouragement before it is released. And that is where hydraulic fracturing comes into play. Drillers inject millions of gallons of water, which is mixed with a special sand (more about this later) and chemicals into these vast underground formations. The pressure of the water, sand, and chemicals cracks the rocks (fractures them), allowing the gas to escape and flow into the wells.
    As a result, we get an efficient energy source, a clean-burning fossil fuel, increase our independence from the Middle Eastern and other foreign suppliers of crude oil, enhance the country’s energy security, and create jobs. Sounds like a pretty rosy situation, wouldn’t you say?
    But hold on before you begin waving the American flag and jumping up and down with we’ve-solved-our-energy-problem glee. First off, it’s still a fossil fuel, and no matter what anyone says, one day we’ve got to wean ourselves from these older fuel sources. With too much enthusiasm about natural gas production, it will be easy to push wind and solar power and all the other alternative energy sources into the background with an attitude of “who needs this new stuff, we’ve got it figured out.”
    We also must be concerned about the dangers of hydraulic fracturing, and there are several. As I mentioned, the process requires millions of gallons of water, which can draw down local surface and groundwater resources. Also, the slurry of chemicals mixed with the water and sand are toxic and if not handled properly can