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* As is too often the case, we missed out. It took us too long to get started and then it took too long to get the law passed and the rules hammered out…

(T)he overall outlook for fracking in Illinois is uncertain, a consequence of low oil prices that started dropping right about the same time the state finished composing its fracking permit process in November.

Not a single company has applied for a fracking permit in Illinois, the state Department of Natural Resources reports. Nationwide, about 1,000 oil and gas rigs have ceased operations since the recent peak in September 2014, said Ethan Bellamy, a senior analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co.

Maybe some other time.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 2:17 pm

Comments

A day late and a dollar short, that is Illinois for you

Comment by OneMan Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 2:19 pm
I agree. While it was a contentious issue, it took too long to complete the administrative rules. I also suspect Quinn wasn’t interested in quickly implementing the law.

Comment by Sir Reel Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 2:22 pm
Waiting a bit isn’t so bad considering some of the potential issues with the waste water disposal. Technology needs a chance to catch up that before we antagonize the New Madrid fault.

Comment by A Jack Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 2:31 pm
So Thankful! I grew up in Oklahoma and my friends are always reporting earthquakes. Fracking is a nightmare for them and the State of Oklahoma finally admitted that fracking was causing it.

Comment by Honeybear Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 2:36 pm
Considering some of the things that are coming to light because of fracking in other states, the delay may turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

Comment by Anon221 Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 2:36 pm
The oil (if there is any) will still be there when it is economically and safely available for extraction. Even if we’d jumped the gun by a year or 2, we might’ve had the same result…wells not drilled, wells drilled but not completed, wells completed but shut down due to poor economics.

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 2:41 pm
Not a bad result. First off, economics at $40 Bbl. - No. Economics at $70 Bbl. Different story.

Also, please note that the technology and productivity of Fracking is continuing to increase. Particularly on wells that have already had injection technology applied.

That’s the case with many of our vertical wells which have already been drilled.

Not a killer. Just a delay. But this whole process we endured does not speak positively to our legislative process.
————–

“….potential issues with the waste water disposal.”

There’s lots of issues with waste water disposal, and most of them aren’t fracking related. And it’s not about needing more regulations - we’ve got quite enough, thank you.

IMO, that’s a whole another discussion.

Comment by Judgment Day (on the road) Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 2:45 pm
I don’t think Illinois had much to do with it. Major oil producing nations saw that supply in the U.S. was increasing and their sales were dropping, thanks to fracking. So they decided to drop prices dramatically in order maintain their market share. Producing fuel from fracking is only viable at a certain price to the consumer. When that consumer prices drops to a certain level, producing “fracked” fuel is no longer economical. Illinois never had time to get in on the bandwagon and as long as other oil producing nations keep the price low, well, that’s a good thing. I expect prices will stay low for quite a while, thanks to the very threat of fracking.

Comment by Deep South Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 2:50 pm
No fracking until the Turn Around Agenda is complete.

Comment by Michelle Flaherty Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 2:54 pm
Does this mean we won’t be seeing any editorials from the Tribune for awhile wondering why we can’t be more like South Dakota?

Comment by Juvenal Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 2:55 pm
Risks of fracking:
-Contamination of groundwater
-Methane pollution
-Air pollution
-Exposure to toxic chemicals
-Blowouts due to gas explosion
-Waste disposal
-Fracking-induced earthquakes
-Infrastructure degradation

Good reasons not to have fracking in Illinois.

Comment by Enviro Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 2:56 pm
Frack Me an earth quake! Glad this this has flown the coup for the time being.

Comment by BlameBruceRauner Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 2:57 pm
Fist bump to Quinn and the wizards of the GA for letting this opportunity pass us by. We had no use for those tax revenues, let alone all the well-paying union jobs!

Comment by Grendel Drendall Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 3:22 pm
Kudos to Michelle Flaherty! If there is oil in the ground, fracking can occur in the future, probably when the demand is greater and prices are higher, and the technology is better.

Comment by Pius Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 3:22 pm
The tax revenue would be nice, but based on all the environmental issues, I’m not so sure missing out is a bad thing.

Comment by Lincoln Parker Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 3:29 pm
Honeybear “…and the State of Oklahoma finally admitted that fracking was causing it.” Not quite right, the State of Oklahoma said that waste water disposal was the culprit. That would include waste water from oil and gas development as well as waste water from fracking. Kinda dodgy but there it is.

Comment by anonlurker Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 3:31 pm
Worked on this issue from a policy standpoint during the period when it was being hotly debated by the GA. Given some of the history of boom & bust cycles in this industry and the impact of externalities on small communities when the wells go dry or the market crashes, not sure we are missing out on much.

Comment by Skeptical Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 3:52 pm
The positive spin on this “failure” is the fracking industry won’t be coming back to the state threatening to eliminate thousands of jobs downstate unless it gets a bailout.

That said, I hate to see southern Illinois miss out on potential revenue. Sadly, leaders there will likely revert back to dreaming up new ways of bringing back Maytag and coal mining jobs.

Comment by Dirty Red Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 4:01 pm
Grindel -ass us by??? The South Dakota boom was way ahead of IL, so tnak goodness it didn’t get staredor there would have been massive layoffand job loss like is happening right now in SD. D—. Forgot I cant say that anymore.

Comment by BlameBruceRauner Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 4:01 pm
sorry about the typos trying to post from my phone, not working too well.

Comment by BlameBruceRauner Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 4:02 pm
So the enviros should thank the Saudi’s

Comment by Anonin' Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 4:14 pm
Illinois has sure had more than its share of environmental/ecosytem sacrifices. Wish a few more had passed us by. We might have been richer in spirit by not humping for the machine as much as Illinois has.

Comment by vole Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 4:18 pm
Why would a fracking company come to Illinois, where they could be sued for causing an earthquake in the New Madrid fault?????

Welcome to business UNfriendly Illinois….where our chief industry is suing.

Comment by A realistic citizen Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 4:23 pm
Good maybe they wont do it in IL. What are people going to do when water cost more than oil?

Comment by rick Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 4:32 pm
Such a loss. Folks’ll have to hitch up their dogs to get their 6 banger to the next empty Shell station. Freakin’ Illinois.

Comment by vole Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 4:35 pm
This a great relief to me - I have a lot of family members living in southern Illinois and the StL metro area. I’m glad we’ll have more time to study poor guinea pig Oklahoma before doing anything in Illinois.

Comment by PolPal56 Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 5:15 pm
Oil prices are low now, thanks to the issues in the Middle East and the production of oil surplus elsewhere in the world. Things will change, as they always do. Oil prices will go back up. In the meantime, we should not abandon the idea of our State producing. We should study, identify the lessons learned in Oklahoma and South Dakota and be ready to implement when those prices rise again. Instead of following, maybe we can change the scenery and let others follow.

Comment by FormerParatrooper Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 5:29 pm
If there’s oil there, someone will eventually tap it. Fracking costs continue to drop, oil has been inching up.

Meanwhile, it’s been a sweet run of more money in the pocket for every consumer and business not directly tied to oil production.

Comment by Wordslinger Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 5:49 pm
A day late and a dollar short, indeed.

It is almost the same thing with adding slot machines to horse racing tracks, which was a topic yesterday.

Why do we need to add slot machines to Illinois tracks? I dunno. Maybe because most of the competing states with horse racing did so years ago. Illinois dragged its feet on fracking and now that the laws and regulations are in place the cost of oil has fallen and there is no rush to develop new wells in the Prairie State.

Comment by Under Further Review Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 5:55 pm
Missed out on [see Enviro 2:56 comment]?

No mourning here.

Comment by Left Leaner Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 8:09 pm
Agree 100 percent. It took three years for the assembly to pass a law and then Governor Quinn delayed, deferred and fought for 507 days before rules were enacted that are the toughest in the U.S.

Gee, I wonder why IL is behind the curve… again.

Comment by 1776 Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 8:23 pm
Yawn. In case you didn’t know, the oil has been down there for millions of years.

It’ll still be there when extraction is profitable again.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 9:25 pm
No permits doesn’t mean no fracking is going on. Some is already happening under the volume limit loophole in that weak backroom fracking law.

Comment by facked Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 10:03 pm
Proponents and opponents worked together to give Illinois a restrictive yet doable HF environment. While those on both sides decry the outcome, illinois is in a good position to capitalize should the economics make sense. World economics change. Hopefully we are ready when that day comes

Comment by Jim Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 11:03 pm