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* From a press release…
GROW-IL (Growing Resources and Opportunity for the Workforce in Illinois) coalition applauds business, labor, environmental and transportation groups for coming together this week to fashion an agreement to develop common-sense hydraulic fracturing regulations for Illinois. The Coalition believes this growing industry will create thousands of good, high paying jobs across Illinois, generate hundreds of millions of dollars for the state and put in place important environmental safeguards.
“GROW-IL is pleased that such a diverse group was able to come together and put forth well-rounded hydraulic fracturing legislation,” said Mark Denzler, Vice President & COO, Illinois Manufacturers’ Association. “After very long and detailed negotiations, everyone put the people of Illinois first and came together to establish a hydraulic fracturing regulations that will create jobs, stimulate the economy and provide regulations to protect our environment, all of which will have a significant impact on Illinois.”
“The working men and women of organized labor appreciate the hard work by all parties that has gone into this significant agreement,” said Michael T. Carrigan, President of the Illinois AFL-CIO. “This will result in good-paying jobs for working families in Illinois.”
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, May 15, 13 @ 2:18 pm
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Here’s hoping everyone makes money. Just watch your groundwater.
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, May 15, 13 @ 2:33 pm
There’s money to be made in groundwater cleanup work as well!
Comment by Pot calling kettle Wednesday, May 15, 13 @ 2:44 pm
This is good news. The process by which this happened should be a model for bringing different interests together in the public interest.
Comment by jake Wednesday, May 15, 13 @ 3:06 pm
was labor able to shake down management in the deal?
Comment by Jim Wednesday, May 15, 13 @ 3:10 pm
- was labor able to shake down management in the deal? -
Yeah, I’m sure the IMA would be gushing over the agreement if the big bad unions got everything they wanted.
Try being happy about cooperation once in a while instead of looking for the union bogeyman.
Comment by Small Town Liberal Wednesday, May 15, 13 @ 3:24 pm
Small Town, since it was a shakedown by the unions that held up this deal in the first place, the comment’s appropriate. Why else would we want Illinois unionized water well drillers who have no experience in fracking be guaranteed work.
Learn to compete. The potential for this enormous and there’s more than enough money to go around.
Comment by Downstate Illinoisan Wednesday, May 15, 13 @ 3:27 pm
- Learn to compete. The potential for this enormous and there’s more than enough money to go around. -
I really have no idea what you mean. Did you not grasp the overall meaning of this press release?
I’ll break it down: They reached an agreement and everyone, on all sides, seems pretty happy.
As to competing, I’m a sporting kind of guy, so let me know what you have in mind.
Comment by Small Town Liberal Wednesday, May 15, 13 @ 3:36 pm
Many in Southern Illinois are not happy about this–it is our ground water and our fragile ecosystems at risk. While some environmentalists have signed on, I don’t think the local chapters have. There is strong opposition here.
Comment by red eft Wednesday, May 15, 13 @ 3:40 pm
Red, like it or not Illinois’ ecosystem has been put to service in major ways ever since Deere’s plow and McCormick’s reaper.
There are no prairies in the Prairie State; corn and beans aren’t the natural flora and fauna. The wetlands were drained to plant, the rivers were dammed to move commerce, mines were dug, and on and on.
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, May 15, 13 @ 3:48 pm
Wordslinger, no reason to put at risk areas such as the Cache which has been designated a “Wetland of International Importance.” In addition, this will be fracking in an active earthquake zone. Although only small earthquakes have been attributed to fracking so far, those fracking sites have not been in active fault areas.
Comment by red eft Wednesday, May 15, 13 @ 3:54 pm
red: The bill has some of the best protections for surface water I have seen. Remember, fracking and horizontal drilling are allowed in the current regulatory scheme; this bill places additional protections. With respect to the triggering of earthquakes, it is unlikely that a highly faulted area would be fracked because the fault offsets would make horizontal drilling impractical.
With respect to a “shakedown” by the unions, the oil and gas companies come into an area with the promise of “good jobs.” It is common for them to then give to “good jobs” to out-of-state workers who have no ties to the community and send most of their earnings home. The intent of the hold up was to incorporate some language that would make it more likely that those good jobs would go to the locals. If the local people are going to agree to accept the risks, they should get the benefits as well.
Comment by Pot calling kettle Wednesday, May 15, 13 @ 4:34 pm
Well you guys just be careful.
Comment by Chavez-respecting Obamist Wednesday, May 15, 13 @ 4:52 pm
Pot: My understanding is that the area the companies are interested include Pope, Johnson and White counties. USGS identifies these areas of southern Illinois of being at high risk for seismic activity.It would be prudent to adopt a moratorium until the EPA issues its analysis of fracking, as New York has done. Other issues of concern are forced pooling so that landowners who do not want to lease mineral rights have no option, and the Haliburton loophole in the federal Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act.
Comment by red eft Wednesday, May 15, 13 @ 5:01 pm
It will be interesting to see the details of this agreement.
How does it compare to North Dakota, Indiana, etc.?
Good to see that agreement has been reached.
Comment by Formerly Known As... Wednesday, May 15, 13 @ 5:43 pm
I hope the fracking is not near the New Madrid fault lines. This fault used to shake the houses in Carbondale on a regular basis years ago. They could easily return. I am not too confident about this deal with the Manufacturers leading the support for the bill. Another hit to the environment.
Comment by Falconer Wednesday, May 15, 13 @ 9:25 pm
No one’s ever fracked a fault zone before. S. IL is home to the Wabash Valley fault–which runs right down my road. The New Madrid gets more attention. But, it’s probably the Wabash Valley that will blow.Remember that earthquake drill we had a few months ago? They’re predicting a big one. It has been proven that injection wells cause earthquakes. Biggest one so far is a 5.7 in OK. Fracking is a disaster waiting to happen.
Comment by JohnsonCountyLandowner Wednesday, May 15, 13 @ 9:36 pm
—
“Wetland of International Importance.”
—
Just that term makes me think someone is really trying to make a swamp more important than it is… “international importance”? Like it effects China, or the UK or Russia…
Sometimes the Enviro groups are great and have a point. sometimes… they take it too far and it causes some of us not to trust them on much of anything.
Comment by RonOglesby Thursday, May 16, 13 @ 8:33 am