The prospect of the gas industry coming Illinois to extract gas from beneath our state using high-volume hydraulic fracturing has caused a great deal of controversy and concern, especially in parts of Illinois where leasing for drilling rights has been underway for well over a year. Horror stories from other states about open pits of toxic wastewater, secret brews of toxins injected into the earth, air emissions sickening neighbors, and contaminated drinking water are just a few of the impacts seen elsewhere.
Can we stop the industry from bringing fracking to Illinois? When legislators proposed a two-year moratorium on the practice last year, we strongly supported that proposal, and we support continued calls for a moratorium today. However, we also need to acknowledge that fracking is legal today in Illinois, and for all we know, may already be occurring as you read this. We also need to recognize that our current laws regulating oil and gas drilling, originally passed in 1941, are totally inadequate to deal with the range of issues raised by injecting millions of gallons of chemical-laced fluid deep into the earth only to come surging back with gas and potentially oil. In short, Illinois citizens and our environment, at the moment, are virtually defenseless against against the problems experienced in other states.
That’s why it is essential that Illinois move quickly to get the strongest possible safeguards in place to protect citizens and their water supplies. Fortunately, discussions in Springfield have produced a basic agreement on what would be the strongest set of protections of any state in the country. The open pits for wastewater in use in other states will be banned here, and there will be none of the dumping the water into wastewater treatment plants, which has overwhelmed sewage plants elsewhere. The discharge of any fracking wastewater into surface water will be a felony offense. The industry must disclose what chemicals are used, and the most toxic ones will be banned. Ann Alexander from the Natural Resources Defense Council, who helped represent environmental groups in the negotiations that produced the proposal, has a good rundown on the major provisions of the bill here.
The bill is certainly not perfect, and its ultimate effectiveness in protecting public health and the environment will be in how it is enforced. This will be a major test for the Department of Natural Resources, which will need significant new resources to do the job. That will be a key issue in the next phase of discussions, which will focus on taxes and fees the industry must pay. If the safeguards in HB2615 are going to work, they must be accompanied by adequate fees, paid by industry, to cover the state’s substantial costs.
We certainly share the concerns of those who live in areas where tracking is likely to occur – they have reason to be concerned. Hopefully, once House Bill 2615 is signed into law, they will be much safer than they are today, and much better protected than citizens in other states facing the same concerns. We may not be able to decide whether fracking comes to Illinois, but we absolutely must decide to make sure we are as protected as we can be.
Illinois Sierra Club Blog 
Rep Bradley cannot be trusted to regulate the very industry which contributes to his campaign coffers! You can see proof of such donations at this blog http://engineergreen.blogspot.com/2013/02/john-bradley-heading-up-negotiations-on.html
Today over 100 billion gallons a year of fresh water is turned into toxic fracking fluid. The technology to transform it back to drinkable water does not exist. And, even if it did, where will we put all the radioactive substances we capture from it? This figure will double in the next five years if this crazy policy continues
We need a united nations ban on turning fresh water into fracking fluid now.
The gas millionaires will have nothing to spend their money on because they are drowning our green earth with fracking fluid.
Jesus turned the water into wine but Satan turns it into fracking fluid.
If you can help to get this message out please do.
How long will it take to turn all the fresh water on Planet Earth into Toxic Fracking fluid, its just a matter of time.
Crazy or what?
The united nations have made a resolution that everyone is entitled to fresh drinking water and sanitation Fracking contradicts this resolution and must stop now.
My calculations are confirmed by world leading prize winning ecologist Sandra Steingraber
Peter Baxter
While I’m sure there are some well-intentioned folks in the Sierra Club lining up to support this “safer fracking”compromise, I think there’s a high risk for shooting yourself in the foot with this. If you cozy up with industry and legislators on fracking, you won’t be in as strong of a position to fight the damage that will occur later. It’s a weak argument that places are getting opened up anyway, so it’s better to put our energies into regulation. As this article points out, there are a lot of “ifs” as to whether their would be reinforcement. With the increase in momentum against fracking lately, it’s disappointing to see the backpedaling.
I meant “whether there would be enforcement.”
While I understand where the environmentalists that negotiated the regulatory bill came from logically (no regulations vs some regulations), business wise… passing the regulatory bill would put a lot of things into motion. If it is true that the industry is holding back on starting fracking because the investors are unwilling to move forward until the regulation is in place… then passing the regulatory bill actually encourages the industry to move forward.
However, in this video Sandra says it all…
https://www.facebook.com/events/551555578217817/
Fracking is not inevitable, the industry has played their cards well and set up a FALSE sense of urgency and inevitability.
We’ll take it because it’s the best we have is a cynical and passive stance which cooperates with oil companies who are bent upon initiating the dirtiest, most toxic, potentially the most onerous and irreversible practice that may damage our environment, our health, and our communities. How can anyone be so motivated by profit that he or she would be willing to relinquish our protection of health and natural resources? You can’t support a moratorium and accept that bill; you must call for a ban in order to serve your stated cause of protecting the environment. Perhaps taking money from oil companies has soiled your hands.