Economic factors are important to consider when planning or advocating for a community or region's future. Unfortunately, there is often a false dichotomy presented by industries about the environment versus the economy, and there is frequently the problematic assertion that an industry is always good for an economy. This sort of framing facilitates incomplete assessments of an industry's economic impact, often inflating the local economic benefits and dismissing the economic and cultural benefits of a healthy environment.

Compiling questions to begin an economic assessment

There has been a lot of interest in understanding the true economic impacts of the frac sand mining industry in communities in western Wisconsin. In order to build an economic analysis framework which we can use to build our understanding of the costs and benefits of frac sand mining and processing, and use in our advocacy, let's start by listing questions that would be important to address in an economic analysis. Please add to the list below!

Several articles and reports have been written that can serve as resources for data and factors to consider. Some articles are listed in the Resources section below -- please add more!

Questions

1. How many new local jobs are created versus personnel brought in from elsewhere?

2. How long are the jobs expected to last?

3. Do these jobs build skills that can transfer to other industries?

4. What would be the lost tourism revenue?

5. What would be the lost agricultural production land (would it be large, or minimal since mostly hills?)

6. What are the costs associated with erosion?

7. What is the influence on fisheries and other river-related industries?

8. What are anticipated reclamation costs?

9. What are potential health insurance costs?

10. What are the costs associated with lower property values, both for towns and individuals?

Finding data to answer questions

What are some sources for finding the data that would allow us to answer the questions above? What approaches would be useful to locate or create and analyze the necessary data? Please add ideas here!

Resources

Several articles and reports have been written about the economic impacts of the frac sand industry. Please add more resources here to help frame and flesh out a plan for DIY economic analysis.

https://www.iatp.org/documents/the-economic-benefits-and-costs-of-frac-sand-mining-in-west-central-wisconsin

http://www.pattisonsand.com/v2newsviews/blogs/clayton-zoning-updates/57/economic-impacts-of-industrial-silica-sand-frac-sand-mining

http://buffalo.uwex.edu/land-owner-network/economic-stability-of-mining-fact-sheet/

http://www.aae.wisc.edu/pubs/sps/pdf/stpap565.pdf