This “dune” is not fictional. This is the longest conveyor belt in the United States, moving sand in Texas

Committ, Texas (AP) – It is longer than Rhode Island’s width, winding across oil fields in the southwest United States and crawling at 10 mph – too slow for trucks and too long for trains.

This is a new sight: America’s longest conveyor belt.

Texas-based oilfield company Atlas Energy Solutions has installed 42-mile-long (67 km) conveyor belts to transport millions of tons of sand for hydraulic fracturing. The company’s belt, called Dune Express, runs from Tiny Kermit in Texas and state borders to Lea County in New Mexico. The steel structure is tall and thin, with a cover similar to a sun module, which can almost be mistaken for a roller coaster.

In the remote western Texas, few people marvel at the unusual machines of Kermit, whose population is less than 6,000, where sand is usually towed by tractor trailers. During fracturing, liquid is pumped into the ground at high pressure to create holes or breaks that release oil. Sand helps keep the holes open as water, oil, gas and gas flow through.

But moving sand by truck is often a long and potentially dangerous process, CEO John Turner said. He said huge trucks moving sand and other industrial supplies are common locations in the Petroleum Permian Basin and pose a danger to other drivers.

“It was not only inefficient to transport sand by truck, but also dangerous,” he said.

The conveyor belt with a freight capacity of 13 tons (11.79 tons) is designed to bypass and tow traffic.

Innovation is no stranger to the oil and gas industry, nor does it have the idea of ​​using transmission to bring mobile materials. According to NASA Earth Observatory, another conveyor belt considered the world’s longest conveyor (up to 98.17 km) can carry phosphorus from a mine in the Sahara on the western northwestern coast of Africa.

When moving sand in a truck, an unprecedented and risky investment opportunity emerged: a $400 million machine was built to simplify the production of hydraulic fracturing. Turner said the company was somewhat public in March 2023 to help pay for the conveyor belt and completed its first delivery in January.

The sand is located in a tray-shaped pan and the lid can be removed at any time, but most of it is unloaded into silos near the Texas and New Mexico border. During the miles-long journey, the sand was sold and sent to fracking companies that moved it in trucks during the rest of the trip.

According to Turner, keeping the roller on the belt and ensuring it runs smoothly is the biggest maintenance barrier. The rollers are equipped with chips that signal when they are about to fail and need to be replaced. Turner said this helps prevent wear and keep the machine running consistently.

The belt cuts into a large oil spot, and environmentalists have long been focusing on the industry’s disturbing local habitats, including those of sage lizards, which were classified as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last year.

“Other than that, we know that the sand will speed up further drilling nearby,” said Luke Metzger, executive director of Texas Environment. “We can see more drilling than we have, which means more air pollution and more spills than we have before.”

Dune Express currently has about 12 to 14 hours of operation per day, with about half its capacity, but the company is expected to roll in all hours later this year.

In New Mexico, LEA County Commissioner Brad Weber said he hopes the belt will reduce traffic on parallel highways where frequent car accidents occur.

“I believe this will have a very positive impact here,” he said.

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Lathan reported from Austin, Texas.

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Lathan is a member of the Associated Press/Reporting Corps of the U.S. State Legislative Council News Initiative. The U.S. Report is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report secret issues.