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Poll: Illinoisans not wild about fracking

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Almost half of Illinois voters – 48.6 percent - tend to oppose hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” because of concerns about the environment, according to a new poll conducted by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

By contrast, 31.8 percent believe that fracking should be encouraged for its economic benefits, and 20 percent are not sure about the issue.

Fracking is a process that utilizes high-pressure injection of water, sand, and chemicals to extract oil and natural gas from underground shale formations.

The poll, taken Feb. 28 thru Mar. 10, has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

Opposition is stronger in the Chicago area than it is downstate. There are 53.5 percent of Chicago and 51 percent of Chicago suburban voters who believe the practice should not be encouraged, while only 29 percent believe it should be encouraged for economic purposes. Downstate, 41.3 percent say fracking should be discouraged and 38.3 percent say it should be encouraged.

John Jackson, visiting professor at the Institute said “It is interesting to note that the highest level of support for fracking is Downstate, where it is likely to take place and have whatever economic benefit and environmental damage it may hold. “Those in Chicago and the suburbs, where it is not likely to have a direct impact are the most opposed,” he said.

Jackson added: “for all the national debate and publicity, a large percentage claim to not know much about fracking, and this is particularly surprising Downstate where it has been much debated.”

Voters’ opinions on fracking are split along party lines. Among Democrats, 19.7 percent believe that fracking should be encouraged, while 54.8 percent of Republicans want to encourage the practice. Similarly, a majority of Democrats (61.9 percent) and a minority of Republican (28.8 percent) voters believe that fracking should be discouraged due to environmental impacts.

Opinions on fracking are strongly influenced by whether or not a person believes the practice is safe. The majority (89.7 percent) of those that believe fracking is safe also believe that it should be encouraged. Similarly, the majority (92.8 percent) of those that believe fracking is not safe say it should not be encouraged.

Young people are much less likely than other groups to encourage fracking.

Almost three-fourths (73.8 percent) of respondents aged 18 to 25 believe fracking should not be encouraged due to environmental impacts. Only 11.9 percent of young adults believe the practice should be encouraged for economic reasons.
Location and political party affiliation appear to influence how much a person has heard about fracking.

People in the city of Chicago have heard more about fracking than those downstate. Forty-two percent of those in Chicago have heard a lot about fracking compared to 29 percent of voters downstate.

Republicans and independents have heard more about fracking than Democrats. Roughly 70 percent of both Republicans (69.5 percent) and independents (70.1 percent) have heard a lot or some about fracking. Only 55.8 percent of Democrats have heard the same.
Young people and Democrats are less likely than other groups to see fracking as a safe way to extract oil and natural gas.

Young adults (aged 18-25) are nearly twice as likely as people of other ages to believe that fracking is either not very safe or not at all safe. Fifty-nine point five percent of young adults believe the practice is not very safe or not at all safe compared to 34 percent of voters of any other age.

The percentage of Republicans who believe fracking is either safe or somewhat safe (61 percent) is over double the percentage of Democrats who believe the same (28.3 percent). A third (35.4 percent) of independents see the practice as safe.

These opinions are set within a larger national debate over hydraulic fracturing. Fracking regulations released by the Obama administration on March 20th have received push back from both parties, with those who support fracking claiming that regulations unnecessarily slow production, and environmentalists claiming the regulations are not strict enough.

More here.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Apr 1, 15 @ 2:26 pm

Comments

Leave it to Illinois to get into the fracking biz just as the oil industry craters.

Comment by Nick Naylor Wednesday, Apr 1, 15 @ 2:29 pm
Bring the insurance companies and actuaries into the conversation. Fracking causes unstable earth and the insurance companies are moving towards eliminating their claim exposure to this.

Comment by cdog Wednesday, Apr 1, 15 @ 2:34 pm
“Almost three-fourths (73.8 percent) of respondents aged 18 to 25 believe fracking should not be encouraged due to environmental impacts.”

Yep, sounds right, they understand they are the ones who will have to live and deal with the long term negative impacts on the environment and climate, while receiving little to none of the short term economic benefits.

Comment by WAK Wednesday, Apr 1, 15 @ 2:38 pm
The poll’s a couple of years late, isn’t it?

Comment by Wordslinger Wednesday, Apr 1, 15 @ 2:45 pm
“Those in Chicago and the suburbs, where it is not likely to have a direct impact are the most opposed,” he said.

I know Chicagoans who are quite intelligent too!

Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, Apr 1, 15 @ 2:48 pm
That’s too bad. I was counting on the flames coming from my faucet to heat my house next winter. (snark)

Comment by dupage dan Wednesday, Apr 1, 15 @ 2:50 pm
Out in La Salle County, the impact of fracking is already being felt by residents who are seeing additional frac-sand mines, truck traffic, etc. in their midst. People are divided and highly opinionated, with the mines providing fairly well paying jobs for some, but creating a nuisance for others.

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Wednesday, Apr 1, 15 @ 3:03 pm
Yep, sounds right, they understand they are the ones who will have to live and deal with the long term negative impacts on the environment and climate, while receiving little to none of the short term economic benefits.

Yeah - its only been around forty years and although science repeatedly proves its safety, well, who believes science? Underground energy is so scary! Hell is down there! /snark

Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, Apr 1, 15 @ 3:07 pm
==Jackson added: “for all the national debate and publicity, a large percentage claim to not know much about fracking, and this is particularly surprising Downstate where it has been much debated.”==

When, as is true for so many issues in this country, the “debate” consists of articles/blogs/press releases reporting two sides yelling that the other side is evil or reporting bunch of useless statistics about who believes each side of the issue (which is all the more this article is about), is it any wonder that a big portion of people admit to not knowing enough about the issue to have an opinion?

Comment by Anon. Wednesday, Apr 1, 15 @ 3:16 pm
Just as an FYI, here’s a pretty good map of the location of the New Albany shale formations. Note the shale locations (potential drilling regions) vrs. the Chicagoland area:

http://kentuckynaturalgas.com/New_Albany_Shale.html

—————
“Out in La Salle County, the impact of fracking is already being felt by residents who are seeing additional frac-sand mines, truck traffic, etc. in their midst. People are divided and highly opinionated, with the mines providing fairly well paying jobs for some, but creating a nuisance for others.”
——————

That’s the silica sand operations (sand deposits) that have been going on for a long time down in LaSalle County. Only previously, it was for producing glass. Silica sand being used for fracking was a godsend for those folks.

The silica trucks were there back in the 70’s. They were going great for a while (last few years), but it’s been slowing down for the last few months - way down. And that’s an area where they could really use the business activity.

Comment by Judgment Day Wednesday, Apr 1, 15 @ 3:18 pm
Robert Bauer with the Illinois State Geological Survey has a pretty good PowerPoint and presentation on it. Really helps distinguish the hysteria vs. reality. The PowerPoint is called: “Hydraulic Fracturing, Horizontal Wells & Unconventional Oil/Gas Resources” if anyone is interested.

Comment by logic not emotion Wednesday, Apr 1, 15 @ 4:01 pm
Here are some excerpts; but you really need to view it all (including the charts and presentation) to get an understanding of it.

U.S. Oil & Gas Well History
First gas well – 1821 (NY)
First oil well – 1859 (Penn)
First gas well in Illinois – 1853
First oil wells in Illinois – 1860s
Fracturing
In Oil/Gas wells
Fracturing first used – Nitroglycerin torpedo – 1860s
First hydraulic fracturing experiment – 1947
Commercial operations start – 65 years ago - 1949
Massive hydraulic fracturing ~ 35 years ago - 1970s
Estimated
> 1 million hydraulically fractured vertical wells in U.S.
> 1 million hydraulically fractured sections in horizontal wells in U.S.
> 1.5 million hydraulically fractured sections in horizontal wells outside the U.S.

Comment by logic not emotion Wednesday, Apr 1, 15 @ 4:06 pm
Poisoning ground water isn’t popular in Illinois?

Comment by Carl Nyberg Wednesday, Apr 1, 15 @ 5:22 pm
Why fracking is merely man giving mother nature a colonic.

Comment by Daniel Plainview Wednesday, Apr 1, 15 @ 5:29 pm
time to revisit nukes

Comment by railrat Wednesday, Apr 1, 15 @ 5:38 pm
Robert Bauer ain’t the end-all-be-all geologist despite his unfortunate (public service) position at the ISGS and his association with the ambiguous Illinois Prairie Research Institute; it’s almost like that slideshow was co-written and produced by the oil and gas industry. But, nah.

Deficient science trumped by boom economics says, “Fracking rocks - shilling for shale.”

Comment by PortageParker Wednesday, Apr 1, 15 @ 5:45 pm
PortageParker: Is any of his information I posted inaccurate? Can you refute any of the information on his PowerPoint? Have you seen his PowerPoint, listened to his presentation or talked with him?

Comment by logic not emotion Thursday, Apr 2, 15 @ 8:33 am
Poisoning ground water isn’t popular in Illinois?

No. It is not. Had their been proof of it over the past forty years as over 2,000,000 of these fracked well have been drilled, then we would have not allowed it to continue. Over the past forty years water quality has improved. Having been raised in South Chicago, I have witnessed it.

Comment by VanillaMan Thursday, Apr 2, 15 @ 9:17 am