WHITEHALL, Wis. – Layoffs continue at western Wisconsin frac sand mines as demand for the sand plummets with the shrinking U.S. oil industry. Texas-based Hi-Crush, one of the largest frac mining companies in the region, closed its Whitehall mine earlier this year as part of a bankruptcy. Permanently laid off were 35 workers. The layoffs followed others at Whitehall in the previous two years. It’s an issue of low oil prices leaving deep-drilling for oil and natural gas too expensive. It’s the deep drilling that uses frac sand. Chris Rogers, a reporter for the Winona Post, assembled this status on Trempealeau and Jackson county mines:
> Hi-Crush, of Houston, Texas, at Whitehall.
> Hi-Crush, at Taylor.
> Badger Mining, of Berlin, Wisconsin. at Taylor.
> Canadian Silica, of Calgary, Alberta, at Arcadia.
Layoffs this year have totaled 102, which hurts small-town economies in places like Arcadia, population 2,900; Whitehall, 1,500; and Taylor, 400. Some companies, including Badger, also have been shrinking their payrolls for years. There also are fracking mines elsewhere in western Wisconsin and northern Iowa that have cut jobs.