A National Institutes of Health grant received by the University of Iowa will help implement the study of the health impacts of frac-sand mining on air quality in the Iowa counties of Winneshiek and Allamakee. Dr. Peter Thorne, professor and head of occupational and environmental health at University of Iowa College of Public Health, will lead the study. The study proposes to conduct an impact assessment of active large-scale silica-sand mining operations on particulate matter and crystalline silica exposures in Wisconsin, and using air-monitoring equipment to establish the impact of such mines on respirable particulate-matter levels.