* A group opposing fracking will hold a rally and a press conference today. From this morning’s press release…
NY has a moratorium on fracking. Don’t the people of IL deserve the same?
Press conference in the state capital rotunda at 1:30.
High volume, high pressure, horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” threatens not only the health of Illinois residents, but important Illinois industries such as tourism and farming. SB1418/ HB3086 would set up an investigative task force of scientific experts and stakeholders to examine the risks to local economies, tourism, public health, and the environment — before fracking can proceed.
A Cornell study has found that cumulatively, fracking activities are a major threat to tourism. Southern Illinois, targeted for hydraulic fracturing, is currently a tourist destination for hunters, hikers, wine trail enthusiasts, and those interested in the newly-blossoming microbrewery industry. Introducing fracking to this already economically disadvantaged area of the state will be devastating to local economies.
The risk of economic fallout from fracking in the form of damage to tourism, agriculture, infrastructure, and property values is NOT outweighed by job creation for Illinois residents. Evidence indicates that the industry relies mostly on out-of-state workers. What local employment does exist is primarily in part-time, short-term, or low-paying jobs; the economic gain here is nominal compared to the costs of damage.
In addition, various health organizations are seeing the impacts of fracking on public health. The American Nurses Association and American Public Health Association both call for a moratorium on fracking. In October 2012, the American Public Health Association issued a policy statement saying, “The public health perspective [on fracking] has been inadequately represented in policy.”
The USEPA is also conducting a major nationwide study to determine whether fracking can be done safely and, if so, how. Illinois should impose a two-year moratorium on fracking, and wait for the results of these studies before determining how best to proceed.
* Last week, the same group sent out this press release…
On March 6 a federal judge lifted a 17-year-old order that blocked oil and gas drilling in the Illinois’ Shawnee National Forest. Richard Blume-Weaver, a planning and resources staff officer at the National Forest, confirmed that there has been interest in oil & gas leasing. Ultimate approval will rest with the federal Bureau of Land Management.
SAFE (Southern Illinoisans Against Fracturing our Environment) takes a strong stand against drilling in the National Forest and is outraged by the oil and gas industry’s latest maneuver.
I asked whether this meant that the group ought to pursue regulations, since a moratorium wouldn’t appear to stop this drilling. The reply…
Actually, we are certain that fracking is not on its way. Even if the industry bill passes we’ll still be pushing for a moratorium. I’m sure you think that’s an impossible task. We most certainly don’t. NY has extended theirs due to 3 very good studies being done. Shouldn’t IL wait for those studies, too?
Opening the door to fracking in the Shawnee now gives us leverage on a national stage, btw. It was a big mistake on industry’s part to drop that bomb right now. It just gives SAFE more support in S. IL.
Actually, only the lower house in New York’s legislature extended the ban. The Senate is not expected to extend it.
I followed up again and was told this…
Trust me—it’s not coming. What’s going to happen if equipment get’s moved in—trucks start rolling?
I’ve already had lots of people tell me—we’ll do whatever it takes to stop them. (And, so will I. I’m 66 and will be right there with everyone on the front lines.) SAFE has a Direct Action point person who works with other Direct Action groups. She’ll be coordinating, And, Rising Tide will be here, for sure. They’re already helping us out.
It’ll get really messy—industry will have a hard time winning that. You just can’t throw enough money around to dampen the human spirit. You can pass that last quote around to any industry guys.
* And that same group sent out a press release severals days ago about its upcoming anti-fracking protest at the Statehouse which included this background of two scheduled speakers…
Bill Rau, ISU Emeritus Professor and fracking expert, “On the most important issues, the bill (HB2615) remains silent or gives the store away. The gas industry got just about everything they wanted.
Annette McMichael, Leader in IPA and SAFE, and Southern Illinois landowner “There is no local control in the industry bill. They can turn Southern IL into an industrial wasteland and no one can stop them.”
* Both of these folks have been quoted quite in a bit in the media. For example…
About a dozen members of the Illinois People’s Action attended Tuesday’s board meeting wearing anti-fracking stickers.
Spokesman Bill Rau said the group ideally wants fracking banned in Illinois but doesn’t want the counties to lose their local zoning control.
The bio at the bottom of a recent Rau op-ed…
Rau, Bloomington, is a professor emeritus of industrial sociology at Illinois State University.
From Wikipedia’s definition of “industrial sociology”…
Industrial sociology, until recently a crucial research area within the field of sociology of work, examines “the direction and implications of trends in technological change, globalization, labour markets, work organization, managerial practices and employment relations to the extent to which these trends are intimately related to changing patterns of inequality in modern societies and to the changing experiences of individuals and families the ways in which workers challenge, resist and make their own contributions to the patterning of work and shaping of work institutions.”[
* On to Annette McMichael…
It’s not time for anybody to declare victory yet, according to an anti-fracking activist. After representatives of industry, labor, and environmental interests joined lawmakers to celebrate the introduction of a bill to regulate hydraulic fracturing in Illinois, Annette McMichael was ready to rain on the parade. McMichael is part of SAFE – Southern Illinoisans against Fracturing Our Environment. She lives in Monticello but hopes to retire to Jackson County, where she owns land.
McMichael is actually a professional PR person. From her Green Media Service website…
Annette has more than 15 years of experience in planning and implementing advertising campaigns. For seven years she served as the marketing director for a mid-sized business. In this position she purchased about $500,000 of advertising each year, using a variety of media. During that time the business grew from a staff of 15 to over 100 and revenue exploded. But it was a struggle getting there. Whether your annual ad budget is $25,000, $250,000, or more, she’s probably tackled the same challenges that you’re now facing. So she understands what’s important to you.
She has also spent many years working within the media industry. She served as an Account Representative for both radio and television, and as a Sales Manager in broadcast and cable television. This background gives her the advantage of understanding media organizations, especially in central Illinois, from the inside.
* There’s absolutely nothing wrong or untoward about any of this. Self-taught activists have been crucial to many successful American movements throughout history.
But Professor Rau is no fracking scientist, even though you’d most certainly get that impression from his press release bio. And McMichael is apparently a professional media spokesperson.
LIVE session coverage...
- Ghost - Tuesday, Mar 12, 13 @ 8:34 am:
As a fan of battlestaer galactica I must protest all of the foul lnaguage in this piece.
Is it just me, or is it a bit of an incongruity to argue that there is a thriving tourist buisness in the area that will be damaged, but then note “Introducing fracking to this already economically disadvantaged area of the state will be devastating to local economies.”
If they are already devastated economically, wouldn’t the huge economic boon of a successfuly industry be better then propping up a failing when that at best is only able to support a devastated economy?
- Small Town Liberal - Tuesday, Mar 12, 13 @ 8:42 am:
- I’ve already had lots of people tell me -
I wonder if they could quantify “lots”.
I admire their spirit and commitment to the environment, but I don’t know what a temporary moratorium will accomplish.
We have strong regulation, lets give it a go, and if problems come up use that activist spirit to respond.
- RonOglesby - Tuesday, Mar 12, 13 @ 8:48 am:
I always wonder how long it will be before Illinois does something new to try to save the state? Gambling? plenty of Casinos in Detroit how does that look now? More taxes or rules?
Or a completely new industry with sound rules and regulation?
At what point will the state coffers be so empty, or the un employed count be high enough for us to actually get new industry here. Here is a potential opportunity for Illinois to improve its lot with natural resources and we get this crap.
Thats fine. Let all our college age children leave the state for lack of jobs or bigger opportunities. Good idea, no industry, no expansion, no good blu colar jobs!
- Dan Bureaucrat - Tuesday, Mar 12, 13 @ 8:52 am:
Tomorrow let’s see a piece highlighting the backgrounds of the pro-frackers.
- OneMan - Tuesday, Mar 12, 13 @ 8:56 am:
Perhaps ‘Fraking expert’ is just a cleaned up version of a different type of expert…
I don’t know go ask the ‘Fraking expert’ over there…
- Cincinnatus - Tuesday, Mar 12, 13 @ 9:20 am:
I understand that Rau stayed in a Holiday Inn Express last night…
- anon - Tuesday, Mar 12, 13 @ 10:22 am:
Did everybody forget about the New Madrid fault that lies beneath us? What’s it going to take, an earthquake, to wake you up? What about all of the people who get their water from wells? What are you going to tell them when their faucets catch fire? As far as a new industry for Illinois goes, what about solar and wind energy?
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Mar 12, 13 @ 10:38 am:
I wish Southern Illinois tourism was so robust that the area could pass on oil averaging about $80 a barrel in the last year, but I doubt that’s the case.
Are there provisions under consideration to capture the natural gas from fracking?
The reason you can see the lights from the Bakken formation at night from space are because they’re burning the gas. The lack of infrastructure in northwest North Dakota makes capturing the gas cost-prohibitive.
That’s just wasteful, and not conservative, in the true sense of the word. As someone who wrestles with his NICOR bill every winter, I’m hoping we can do better here.
- JoeVerdeal - Tuesday, Mar 12, 13 @ 10:43 am:
Excellent information, Rich.
The urgent “feelings” of these people who are not actual residents of the counties that stand a chance to host oil and gas well drilling (in the case of ALL of the folks that are actually running these groups) leads me to wonder if they are paid shills.
How unusual would it be for investors in current oil and gas production to hire and/or financially support activists that would stand a chance of blocking production that would reduce the economic potential of existing production.
Could it be that these folks are actually wolves in sheep’s clothing? Functionaries of the “One Percent”?????
- Cheryl44 - Tuesday, Mar 12, 13 @ 10:43 am:
What do engineers think of fracking in a known earthquake zone–anyone know?
- Kasich Walker, Jr. - Tuesday, Mar 12, 13 @ 10:47 am:
Pick your “experts”, but I’ll go with those who express more concern over safety than ROI.
http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/2989389
Same with nukes and tar sand oil.
- ArchPundit - Tuesday, Mar 12, 13 @ 11:06 am:
===Industrial sociology, until recently a crucial research area within the field of sociology of work, examines “the direction and implications of trends in technological change, globalization, labour markets, work organization, managerial practices and employment relations to the extent to which these trends are intimately related to changing patterns of inequality in modern societies and to the changing experiences of individuals and families the ways in which workers challenge, resist and make their own contributions to the patterning of work and shaping of work institutions.”
Got to love the sociology and econ field descriptions. They are the only ones that assume their results in the description of their fields before they even start research.
- Dazed & Confused - Tuesday, Mar 12, 13 @ 12:16 pm:
Its a BS story about the water catching on fire. Read the Colorado state commission’s report that found the methane in the water was biothermic meaning that it came from naturally decaying material - not fracturing. Even the man who made the movie Gasland admitted in an interview that NATURALLY-OCCURRING methane has been found in water for decades and that reports of water catching on fire go back to 1936 (well before fracturing).
- JoeVerdeal - Tuesday, Mar 12, 13 @ 12:20 pm:
Considering that the zone of seismic activity for the New Madrid Fault originates between three and fifteen miles beneath the surface of the earth, it is not at all likely that there would be any relationship between this relatively shallow proposed drilling activity and earthquakes in Southern Illinois.
That said, I would bet everything I have that when the next earthquake happens, it will be blamed on fracking.
These people need to justify their beliefs by seeking and finding some sort of thing that appears to support the conclusions that they have already reached.
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Mar 12, 13 @ 12:24 pm:
===These people need to justify their beliefs by seeking and finding some sort of thing that appears to support the conclusions that they have already reached. ===
That’s not at all uncommon.
- JoeVerdeal - Tuesday, Mar 12, 13 @ 12:35 pm:
===That’s not at all uncommon.===
Indeed.
Your writings on this subject lead me to believe that you see things clearly with regard to this issue. Thank you.
- Kasich Walker, Jr. - Tuesday, Mar 12, 13 @ 12:50 pm:
I know, I know.
Deep injection doesn’t cause earthquakes.
Carbon in the atmosphere doesn’t cause atmospheric warming.
Steroids don’t lead to homerun records.
- Cheryl44 - Tuesday, Mar 12, 13 @ 12:59 pm:
I did my own research after I asked the question and Joe is right–it seems it depends on who is paying the expert what his expert conclusions are.
I don’t particularly like the idea, but they’re not going to be doing it in my back yard. If people downstate don’t mind it, than I don’t see why they should listen to me.
- VanillaMan - Tuesday, Mar 12, 13 @ 1:13 pm:
Simple environmentalist logic here…
Above ground energy we can all see = good!
Below ground energy we can’t see = scarey!
Yeah for science we can all see!
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Mar 12, 13 @ 1:15 pm:
===Simple environmentalist logic here===
Except the Sierra Club supports the regulatory bill.
- Cincinnatus - Tuesday, Mar 12, 13 @ 1:29 pm:
Bottom line as I see it:
Fracking has been around since at least the 1930’s without discernible provable negative effects. But like any technology, it should be used wisely, and should be subject to common-sense regulations (whatever they may be). There is absolutely no evidence supporting a moratorium.
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Mar 12, 13 @ 1:35 pm:
–Fracking has been around since at least the 1930’s without discernible provable negative effects. But like any technology, it should be used wisely, and should be subject to common-sense regulations (whatever they may be).–
Of course there are negative effects, just as there is with extracting any energy. That’s a price we pay for modern society. The trick is limiting them.
- jake - Tuesday, Mar 12, 13 @ 1:56 pm:
On balance, the bill is sound both environmentally and economically. The regulatory component deals with the effects of fracking for natural gas and oil that can be reasonably anticipated. Enabling extraction of natural gas permits us to reduce greenhouse emissions by reducing reliance on coal. It permits us to reduce our reliance on imported foreign fuels, thereby reducing our motivation to stumble into war again in the Middle East. It is not a substitute for conservation, wind, and solar, but in the near term they will not be enough.
- Kasich Walker, Jr. - Tuesday, Mar 12, 13 @ 2:06 pm:
“Except the Sierra Club supports the regulatory bill.”
I’m not sure it matters much any more to many besides industry leaders seeking the same type of legitimacy endorsement US News & World Reports gives to mothers of college bound seniors with their lists, but I couldn’t even tell if the IL Sierra Club supported it.
Comments I read were more like, “We don’t like it, but can’t stop it, so let’s see if we can minimize impact.”
- Kasich Walker, Jr. - Tuesday, Mar 12, 13 @ 2:27 pm:
The bill:
http://ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=09800HB2615&GA=98&SessionId=85&DocTypeId=HB&LegID=74421&DocNum=2615&GAID=12&Session=&print=true
$5 million in insurance & they’re set to go.
i’m sure the “well site safety plans” will address all concerns.
- Clark Pane - Tuesday, Mar 12, 13 @ 6:15 pm:
So nice to know Illinois State University is teaching crypto Marxism to our children.
- Stating the obvious - Tuesday, Mar 12, 13 @ 7:09 pm:
Similar to the Thomson prison issue (terrorists in IL, oh my!), if theose who live nearby a particularly controversial project are willing to allow this activity, the state should abide by their wishes. Because if we don’t, you can be darn sure our neighboring states (and countries) would be more than willing to step up in our place.
- Stop the Frack Attack On IL - Wednesday, Mar 13, 13 @ 5:53 pm:
I want to assure everyone on this post that non of the over 100 citizens from across the state that converged on the Capitol yesterday for the moratorium on fracking was a paid shill! We were there to raise the alarm, the regulations in HB2615 are woefully inadequate to protect the citizens of Illinois and our air, land and water–Pay attention Illinois!
If you really want to know what we, citizens, are concerned about re: fracking go to www.dontfractureillinois.net or the “List of the Harmed” at http://pennsylvaniaallianceforcleanwaterandair.wordpress.com/
The fracking industry can not be trusted, the enforcement of the woefully insufficient regulations in HB2615 by the IDNR will be atrocious. Evidence from across the country has shown us that in Illinois, if fracking moves forward, we will see earthquakes, spills, water contamination, dumping, injuries (some of them lethal), cancer clusters, asthma, livestock deaths, water scarcity, land devaluation, blowouts, serious air pollution and worsening global warming. Support HB3086 and SB1418 both are moratorium on fracking with investigative task forces.
- wordslinger - Wednesday, Mar 13, 13 @ 6:09 pm:
Stop the Frack, do everyone a favor and hit the “return” key every once in a while.
Believe me, I want to read what you have to say, but the bedsheet paragraphs are hard on the eyes and easy to blow off.
A little white space, please, and you can make your point that much stronger.
The idea is to have someone read it, right?
Friendly advice.
- naturallypatty - Friday, Mar 15, 13 @ 7:19 am:
While a regulatory bill is a good start, the moratorium bill is essential. The false urgency the the industry has set is just a manipulation. They are buying leases, promising the world… However, the TRUTH is… fracking has a long and dirty history of polluting the land, air and water everywhere it goes. If the elected officials of Illinois choose t follow the industry instead of protecting the people, they will have to live with their decisions. We will make sure that they do. Lets not use the people’s health and safety of south and central Illinois as pawns in a game. They deserve better, we deserve better. Lets not sell them out… If the moratorium bill does not pass, we have sold out human safety for the prosperity of gas and oil investors. It is as simple as that.