21 Sierrans Float the Saline River

Saline River Watershed. Red arrows indicate approximate locations of canoe launch and take out spots. The “X” marks the approximate location of the tract of land the FS proposes to trade to Peabody Coal for a strip mine.

The 754,942-acre Saline River watershed in far southeastern Illinois has gone from one of the most important historical and geographical features in the region to one of the most abused and under-appreciated watersheds in the entire state. Once a pristine river running through vast forested wetlands the Saline has been turned into an extensively channelized river system that carries pollutants from coal mines, agricultural fields, and even oil extraction.

So why, you might be asking yourself, would 21 people choose to float this seemingly undesirable river on an Illinois Chapter conservation outing? It all started in 2011 when we first heard about a proposed land exchange between the U.S. Forest Service (FS) and Peabody Coal Company. In the proposed exchange the Forest Service would trade a parcel of approximately 384 acres in size on the Saline River in Gallatin County for three tracts of Peabody land, which adjoin FS land in Pope and Jackson Counties. (See Stop the Swap–Go to Bat for the Bats for details.)

Bottomland forested wetlands provide unique habitat and help with flood control.

The reason Peabody wants the Gallatin County parcel is for the coal that lay underneath it. The reason we want to stop the swap is to preserve this beautiful site with its forested wetlands, huge cherrybark oak trees, and habitat for endangered Indiana and gray bats from being strip mined for coal.

After two visits last year we realized a unique and fun way to raise awareness of the situation was to take people to the site. And, since the site straddles both sides of the Saline River, what better way to see it than by canoe?

So, last Saturday, April 13^th, twenty-one paddlers embarked on a canoe float down the final 10 miles of the Saline River. We put in not far from the salt springs that were an important source of salt for Native Americans and early settlers, and took out at the mouth of the Saline at the Ohio River.

A couple miles into the trip we pulled out at the Forest Service parcel to explore on foot. It took a little finessing the muddy, slippery bank but everyone managed to reach dry ground without too much trouble. We took advantage of a large downed log to sit as we ate our lunch before scattering in different directions to explore the site. Although our time on land was limited everyone got to experience a bottomland forest with its large trees and pockets of standing water. We even got to see some wood ducks in one ponded area.

As the elevation rose above the floodplain we started seeing lots of spring wildflowers: bluebell, bloodroot, spring beauty, larkspur, trillium, Dutchman’s breeches, trout lily, Virginia waterleaf, blue phlox and wild ginger to name some, but probably not all.

With another 8 miles to go we hurried back to the canoes and by 2 pm were floating again. Although we did see a lot of agricultural land coming right up to the river’s edge, we also saw a lot of forested land, including another FS tract. During the remainder of the leisurely paddle everyone enjoyed the warmth of the spring sun and the sights and sounds of the wildlife life both in and out of the river. A large bald eagle nest was one of the first things we spotted, but it wasn’t until we neared the Ohio when we saw two adult bald eagles flying over. Wood ducks and belted kingfishers seemed to be around every bend. A barred owl that crossed the river right in front of us and landed in a nearby tree watched intently as we floated by. Migrant songbirds heard along the way included Louisiana waterthrush, blue gray gnatcatcher, northern parula and yellow-throated warbler. And, we got good looks at red-headed, red-bellied and pileated woodpeckers, great blue herons and a green heron.  In addition to a few Asian carp jumping out of the water, several people saw a gar and a paddlefish.

The take-away from the outing was not only the importance of preserving this parcel of public land for the eco-system services it provides to people and critters, but moreover what a tragedy that the Saline has been written off as nothing more than an industrial ditch.

Rather than swap this parcel, perhaps the Forest Service should be partnering with other public agencies and private land trusts to embark on an epic project to restore of one of the most unique and important watersheds in the state.

Coal Ash Chronicles

This December will be the 4-year anniversary of the tragic coal ash waste impoundment failure at the Kingston Fossil Plant in Harriman, Tennessee when a billion gallons of toxic coal ash flooded the surrounding residential area and water bodies with extremely dangerous levels of arsenic, mercury, and other toxins.

In May of 2010 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the proposal for the first-ever national rules to ensure the safe disposal and management of coal ash from coal-fired power plants and the structural integrity of coal ash impoundments. At the time of the announcement, Lisa P. Jackson, EPA Administrator, stated, “The time has come for common-sense national protections to ensure the safe disposal of coal ash. We’re proposing strong steps to address the serious risk of groundwater contamination and threats to drinking water and we’re also putting in place stronger safeguards against structural failures of coal ash impoundments. The health and the environment of all communities must be protected.”

The coal ash waste impoundment at Dynegy Energy’s Havana Power Plant on the Illinois River is larger than the ash impoundment that failed in 2008 at the TVA’s Kingston Fossil Plant.

From the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA, the nation’s primary law for regulating solid waste, arose two options for addressing the risks of coal ash management. Simply put, Subtitle C, which creates a comprehensive program of federally enforceable requirements for waste management and disposal, is the option that is clearly more protective of the health and environment of all communities. The other option, Subtitle D does not classify coal ash as hazardous waste, merely sets performance guidelines that are not enforceable by EPA, does not prohibit wet ash storage impoundments, does not require states to comply with minimum national standards for coal ash disposal, does not require utilities to monitor old landfills or waste ponds, does not require states to issue permits, and does not require regulations governing the pre-disposal management of coal ash such as storage, transportation, accidental spills, etc.

After the EPA announced the proposed rules it went out for public comment. Many of you were among the 450,000 people who commented on the proposed rule during the summer of 2010. We’ve been waiting now for two years for a final ruling.

Forty-three percent of the active and retired coal waste landfills are unlined and 53 percent lack leachate collection systems.

In the meantime, this summer EPA released data showing the number of coal ash disposal ponds and landfills is far greater than previously known. The data released by the EPA to Environmental Integrity Project and Earthjustice pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act request (FOIA) revealed that there are at least 451 more coal ash ponds and 56 additional landfills than previously acknowledged. Forty-six percent of the 1,161 ponds are not lined, which means there is nothing to prevent contaminates from leaching into water supplies. Forty-three percent of the active and retired landfills are unlined and 53 percent lack leachate collection systems.

On October 3, 2012, the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), Environmental Law & Policy Center, Prairie Rivers Network and Illinois-based Citizens Against Ruining the Environment filed a legal complaint with the Illinois Pollution Control Board against Midwest Generation for violations of Illinois state solid waste and groundwater laws at four power-generating facilities in Illinois: the Joliet 29, Powerton, Waukegan and Will County Generating Stations.

Meanwhile, while we’ve been waiting a final ruling, industry has been pushing hard to completely remove EPA’s authority to regulate coal ash altogether. Last summer, legislation introduced by Rep. David B. McKinley (R-WV) to prevent EPA from regulating coal ash was attached to a completely unrelated must-pass transportation bill. Fortunately, that maneuver was thwarted. Then came Senate Bill 3512, the Hoeven-Conrad-Baucus coal ash bill, designed to permanently remove EPA’s authority to regulate coal ash, to eliminate waste ponds, impose regulations on states to issue permits or close leaking and dangerous sites.

Yesterday it was confirmed that the original sponsors of S. 3512 were trying to attach it as an amendment to a military spending bill coming out of the Senate Armed Services Committee. This morning an email arrived from our friends at Earthjustice with news that last night Senator Barbara Boxer, Chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee, spoke on the Senate floor about coal ash and it’s dangers, warning that she would remain in the Senate floor for as long as it would take to ensure that a coal ash rider does not get added to the Department of Defense funding bill.

The battle continues, but its encouraging to know that there are leaders with integrity watching out for our families and our future.

Pollution Control Board Finds Industry Mine in Violation of Water Permit

Polluted runoff from Industry Mine.

For eight years, between 2004 and 2011, Springfield Coal Company’s 5,651-acre Industry Mine in McDonough and Schuyler Counties violated its water permit 624 times. Pollutants including sulfates, iron, manganese, pH and total suspended and settled solids were released at 16 of 17 outflow points into tributaries of Grindstone Creek. Grindstone Creek flows into the LaMoine River, which flows into the Illinois River.

Industry Mine

In 2009, the Sierra Club, Prairie Rivers Network (PRN) and Environmental Law & Policy Center (ELPC) notified the state of their intent to sue over 363 permit violations. In response, on February 10, 2010, the Illinois Attorney General’s Office filed a suit before the Pollution Control Board. On the 25^th ELPC filed a motion to intervene on behalf of Sierra Club and PRN. Over the course of the next two years Industry Mine continued to rack up pollution violations, which today amount to 624.

In a ruling released on November 16^th, the Illinois Pollution Control Board found Springfield Coal Company’s Industry Mine in violation of its water permit. Springfield Coal and its predecessor, Freeman United Coal Mining Company, face a maximum penalty of $64 million.

The penalty phase of the lawsuit will take place at a hearing at a future date to be determined. Although the Board rarely imposes the maximum fine, its our opinion that this fine should be substantial enough to send a clear message to Springfield Coal and the industry as a whole that clean water standards in Illinois will be enforced!

Industry Mine
Photo credit: Marianne Morgan/InIllinoisWater.org

The extreme number of pollution violations at Industry Mine is of particular concern because Springfield Coal is also seeking permits to open two new strip mines in west-central Illinois. One, the North Canton Mine strip mine is proposed directly upstream from Canton Lake, Canton’s public water supply for over 20,000 people.

We commend everyone who took part in this important case, which demands the protection public waterways from chronic violators. From the engaged citizens who saw what was going on and knew they had to take action, to the Attorney General’s Office that took up this case, to the Pollution Control Board that did a thorough review of the data, all played an important role in a system that works if we pay attention and stay involved.

Don’t Frack With Illinois!

That’s the message a growing coalition of organizations and concerned citizens is sending to industry and decision-makers regarding the proposal to open Illinois to high-volume hydraulic fracturing–or fracking.

Gas leasing speculation has been quite a spectacle in Illinois, especially in the southeastern counties where shale gas development is thought to be the most promising. We learned early on that the state has virtually no regulations in place to protect the public and the environment from the hazards of fracking. Seeing all to0 clearly the myriad of damages to people, communities and the environment that shale gas development has caused in other states a coalition of environmental organizations came together to address the issue head on.

For nearly a year, Sierra Club and other organizations have established a list of measures that are necessary for the protection of people and places in Illinois. They include:

• Chemical disclosure–before fracking–of exactly what chemicals are being used in the frack.
• Baseline groundwater testing before the frack and following monitoring afterwards.
• Water withdrawal plans.
• An adequate public notice and appeal process for frack well permits.
• Adequate setbacks from water supplies, including water wells, streams, ponds and lakes.
• Prohibition on the use of toxic chemicals such as BTEX chemicals (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene).
• Prohibition of storing wastewater in open pits.
• Treating  fracking waste as hazardous waste.
• Ending clean air act exemptions for fracking sites.

Until industry is willing to accept reasonable regulations that protect the environment and the people who depend upon it for their lives and livelihoods, no permits should be issued for high-volume hydraulic fracturing. Therefore, we continue to support a moratorium on fracking until Illinois has developed robust and comprehensive regulations that protect people and places from an activity that has been so harmful in other parts of the country.

Please ask your state legislators for his or her support by co-sponsoring Senate Bill 3280 with a moratorium on fracking until robust regulations have been developed.

And, please support this important campaign by taking part in the Don’t Frack With Illinois event—a virtual fundraising event sponsored by the Shawnee Group Sierra Club. Win a handcrafted acoustic guitar generously donated by Whipple Creek Guitars in Pomona, Illinois. Visit the event website to buy tickets and your chance to WIN!!

High-volume Hydraulic Fracturing Background Information

Industry is proposing to use high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing to reach oil and/or natural gas in the New Albany Shale. After drilling into the shale, which is located between 4,000 to 5,000 feet down, the well bore is then drilled horizontally for one to two miles. Following the drilling the well is then “completed” or “fracked.” Fracking is process in which water, sand and toxic chemicals (fracking fluid) are injected into the well at high pressure to create small cracks in the rock that allow natural gas to freely flow to the surface.

Each well uses between 2 to 8 million gallons of fresh water taken from our lakes and aquifers. Since one well is often fracked up to 18 times and there could be one well for every forty acres of land within the New Albany Shale, this amounts to an enormous quantity of fresh water permanently taken out of the system.

Additionally, an estimated 30% to 70% of the fracking fluid will resurface, bringing back with it toxic substances that are naturally present in underground oil and gas deposits, as well as the chemicals used in the fracking fluid. Industry is proposing to store this toxic brew in open evaporation pits until it can be hauled away in tanker trucks to deep injection wells. Spills and leaks throughout this process are inevitable, putting wells, farm ponds, streams, lakes, and aquifers and the people, pets, livestock and wildlife that use them at great risk.

In many areas, after a well has been fracked, people’s well water has become contaminated by chemicals (some even radioactive) that migrate into aquifers through natural fissures and/or possibly through abandoned wells.

Air pollution is also a big problem. Volatile organic compounds from wastewater flowback pits and airborne chemical releases from the equipment involved in the fracking process all add up to a high level of air pollution in many areas.

Water Issues Targeted at this Year’s Illinois Hunting and Fishing Day Celebrations

This year’s National Hunting and Fishing Day Celebrations in northern and southern Illinois were a great opportunity for Illinois Chapter Sierra Club staff and volunteers to engage the public on many water-centric issues in Illinois. Armed with buttons, stickers, flyers, and fact sheets our volunteers and staff cast their lines and reeled in a sizable audience to discuss the difficulties of keeping our Illinois waters happy and healthy.

At the Northern Illinois show, Sierra Club staff largely focused on the increasingly pressing issue of the Asian carp, which are slowly-yet-surely advancing up the Illinois River towards Lake Michigan. We were particularly delighted to meet so many young fisherwomen and men who were very knowledgeable about the problem. Attendees were interested to hear about the Sierra Club’s support of permanent separation between the Mississippi River and Great Lakes basins via our Healthy Water Solutions (HWS) coalition, and were very concerned about the inevitable consequences if the Asian carp successfully enter the Lakes.  We were excited to garner additional support for our coalition, and to raise public awareness of aquatic invasive species problematic throughout the state (visit the coalition website for more information).

High-volume hydraulic fracturing (fracking) for oil and gas was the focus of the Club’s booth at the Southern Illinois event. Fracking, which is poised to take place across much of downstate Illinois, poses threats to fresh water at every stage of operation. Over 150 people showed their support for the Club’s position on fracking by signing a postcard to their legislator asking him/her to support a moratorium on fracking to allow the Department of Natural Resources time to review the environmental impacts of fracking and the state time to review, develop and establish potential regulations that will adequately safeguard our water and environment.

Many thanks to all the people who stopped by our booths in northern and southern Illinois and showed support for clean water and a healthy environment for our families, our wildlife and our future.

Hydraulic Fracturing Background Information

Industry is proposing to use high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing to reach oil and/or natural gas in the New Albany Shale. After drilling into the shale, which is located between 4,000 to 5,000 feet down, the well bore is then drilled horizontally for up to a mile. Following the drilling the well is then “completed” or “fracked.” Fracking is process in which water, sand and toxic chemicals (fracking fluid) are injected into the well at high pressure to create small cracks in the rock that allow natural gas to freely flow to the surface.

Each well uses between 2 to 8 million gallons of fresh water taken from our lakes and aquifers. Since one well is often fracked up to 18 times and there could be one well for every forty acres of land within the New Albany Shale, this amounts to an enormous quantity of fresh water taken out of the system.

Additionally, an estimated 30% to 70% of the fracking fluid will resurface, bringing back with it toxic substances that are naturally present in underground oil and gas deposits, as well as the chemicals used in the fracking fluid. Industry is proposing to store this toxic brew in open evaporation pits until it can be hauled away in tanker trucks to deep injection wells. Spills and leaks throughout this process are inevitable, putting wells, farm ponds, streams, lakes, and aquifers and the people, pets, livestock and wildlife that use them at great risk.

In some areas, after a well has been fracked, people’s well water has become contaminated by chemicals (some radioactive) that migrate into aquifers through natural fissures and/or possibly through abandoned wells.

Key Illinois River Valley Wildlife Corridor Saved from Coal Strip Mining

In a big win for Illinois citizens over corporate mining interests, more than 600 acres of predominantly Illinois River floodplain have been saved from becoming a coal strip mine. On July 19^th, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) denied a surface mining permit for the proposed Banner coal mine, which was slated for land located next to the village of Banner in Fulton County. The permit would have allowed strip mining on a triangle-shaped site adjoining Rice Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area, Illinois Route 24, which is part of the Illinois River Road National Scenic Byway, and Copperas Creek and the Banner Marsh State Fish and Wildlife Areas.

Proposed mine site is the flooded area outlined in red. In the background is the Illinois River.

Both Banner Marsh and Rice Lake, internationally recognized as Globally Important Bird Areas, are home to nesting osprey, a historic bald eagle roost, the federally-threatened Decurrent False Aster and habitat for the state-endangered short-eared owl. The proposed mining would have also threatened residents’ drinking water supplies and the structural integrity of the village of Banner’s sewage treatment plant, located at the apex of the triangle.

In 2007, knowing that the proposed mine was not in the best interest of the residents or the environment, local citizens, including members of Citizens for the Preservation of Banner Township and Save Rice Lake Area Association, and the Sierra Club filed for an administrative review of the mining permit. The Illinois Attorney General and her Environmental Bureau agreed with the concerns and joined these groups in challenging the proposed mine.

“I have to thank IDNR for denying this coal mine,” said Ken Fuller, Mayor of the Village of Banner. “The real person to thank, though, is the Illinois Attorney General who filed in this case on behalf of the environment and the people of Illinois. Banner could have lost its wells and water if the coal mine had happened. I was really scared. My town could have died.”

Impacts on the hydrology of the area, including the bordering Rice Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area, were key issues in citizen concerns and in documents filed by the Illinois Attorney General. Citizens commissioned Geo-Hydro, Inc. to prepare a hydrogeology study of the mine’s impacts because attention to the hydrological impacts in the mine permit application was so lacking.

“It should not have had to take so many years to decide this permit appeal,” commented John Grigsby, a local resident and key petitioner in the appeal. “Thank heavens for Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. Her office comprehended what was at stake with this strip mine permit and took action on behalf of the future of our river floodplain and for the good of the regular citizens like me.”

The Sierra Club hopes that IDNR’s final denial of this permit heralds a new chapter in how our state sites new mines.  We look forward to IDNR heeding concerns raised by ordinary citizens earlier in the review process—before permits are awarded. Our common goal, as illustrated by this permit denial, is to ensure our precious water resources, wildlife and its habitat, and communities are protected.

Illinois’ Coal Education Program Fails to Make the Grade

Illinois grade school teachers are gathered this week, June 19-22, at the Rend Lake Resort near Mt. Vernon, Illinois for the 15th Annual Coal Education Conference sponsored by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. Each year, IDCEO spends up to $70,000 for this all-expense-paid teachers’ retreat. While our children’s teachers deserve to be recognized for their dedication and hard work, this particular retreat is nothing more than a corporate ploy to advance the coal industry’s “clean coal” message through grade school lesson plans at taxpayer expense.

“From the Coal Mines to the Power Lines” classroom curriculum was developed through a partnership with corporate coal interests such as Knight Hawk Mining, Southern Illinois Power Coop and the Illinois Clean Coal Institute, with substantial help from state taxes Illinois citizens pay in utility bills. This educational charade contains scores of lessons carefully crafted by the coal industry, advertising coal as the fuel of the future, while cleverly avoiding any serious discussion of the documented economic, health and environmental effects related to the use of coal.

Children’s pro-coal artwork is used to create a calendar every year. Where’s the renewable energy and energy efficiency calendar?

The curriculum, designed to create a bias toward coal and away from sustainable, clean energy options, teaches our children to doubt that the combustion of fossil fuels has led to a warming climate, despite the fact that 97% of climate experts agree that humans burning fossil fuels is the cause of global warming. It teaches that environmental regulations will significantly raise the cost of producing electricity, when in fact when the full costs of coal are reflected in the market price, the cost of using coal over wind, geothermal, biomass and hydro is considerably higher.

The curriculum has the children creating advertisements for an industry that is responsible for nearly one-third of the carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere, for devastating health effects caused by air pollution, and water pollution caused during every phase of coal’s life cycle.

Each of the nation’s 500 coal-fired power plants produces an average 240,000 tons of toxic waste each year. Coal-fired power plants are the number one source of man-made pollutants.

The curriculum fails to teach our children that coal-fired power plants are the number one source of man-made pollutants responsible for over 1,000 heart attacks, hundreds of premature deaths, and thousands of asthma attacks each year in Illinois. Asthma happens to be the number-one illness that causes kids to miss school.

The curriculum fails to teach our children that mercury pollution from coal-fired power plants is so severe that Illinois has adopted a fish consumption advisory that recommends that children and women of childbearing age limit their consumption of wild caught fish because of the risk of developmental problems in children.

Over 140 million tons of coal ash is produced in the United States every every year. Coal ash contains large quantities of toxic metals, including mercury, arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, nickel, and selenium.

The curriculum fails to teach our children about the impacts to Illinois surface waters from coal mining and coal combustion waste. In the last three years 34 coal mines (47%) in Illinois have been out of compliance with their permit for six months or more and 21 coal mines (29%) have been out of compliance with their permit for 12 months or more. At 24 coal combustion waste sites in Illinois, 22 of them have caused groundwater pollution.

Before coal is burned it goes through a washing process, which generates millions of gallons/day of coal slurry that typically contains elevated levels of pollution such as salts and heavy metals that can be harmful to fish, wildlife, livestock and of course humans. Constructed of coarse coal refuse, this impoundment at Shay I, a mine started in the early 1980s under Exxon Mobile, is typical of what a slurry impoundment looks like. Slurry impoundments typically leak toxins into surface and ground water.

Children are the population that is most vulnerable to the effects of coal pollution, now and into the future. Our children deserve to learn all the facts so they can be prepared for making informed decisions about their future energy choices. If our tax dollars are going to teach young people about coal, then let’s tell them the whole truth, not a one-sided, biased and self-serving story contrived for the benefit of Illinois economic interests and the coal industry.

No Safeguards? No Fracking!

Support SB 3280, House Amendment

The House is expected to vote soon! Please, contact your elected officials NOW and urge them to support SB 3280. Click here for a link to find your IL state representative.

High volume hydraulic fracturing (fracking) is on our doorstep and operations in Illinois are scheduled to begin as soon as this summer. Illinois does not currently have adequate safeguards in place to protect our air and water resources.

In order to protect our state’s air and water resources the Illinois General Assembly needs to act on Senate Bill 3280, House Amendment 3.

The bill puts a hold on fracking in the state of Illinois until June 1, 2014. During that time a thorough investigation is to be completed to determine what safeguards are needed to protect Illinois’ environment from the air and water pollution experienced in other states that have active fracking wells.

SB 3280 HA 3 will create a taskforce to make recommendations concerning the following:

• The protection of the state’s water resources
• Disclosure of information regarding chemicals used in the fracking process
• The practices of leasing or buying land for oil and gas rights
• Public hearings and comments regarding proposed fracking operations
• The handling, storage, and disposal of waste byproducts produced from fracking
• The control of air emissions from oil and gas wells
• Permitting requirements for fracking operations

The House is expected to vote on this today/tonight. Contact your elected officials NOW and urge them to support SB 3280. Here is a link to find your IL state representative.

Stop the Swap–Go to Bat for the Bats

How ironic that during the Year of the Bat, the Shawnee National Forest would propose a land exchange in which the Forest Service would trade away a 384-acre tract of land with a known endangered bat species to Peabody Coal, Co. for a strip mine! An Indiana bat maternity roost was found on the parcel and the endangered gray bat was also detected there.

A diamond in the rough, the Gallatin County parcel is one of the Shawnee’s best-kept secrets. Located just a few miles south of Shawneetown on the Saline River, it takes only one visit to this beautiful piece of land to know that it is providing critical habitat in a part of the state that has seen more than its fair share of human disturbance.

“The single-most important factor that leads to endangerment and extinction of species– and the one the Forest Service has the greatest influence over—is the alteration and loss of habitats.” US Forest Service, Threatened, Endangered & Sensitive Species Program.

In the proposed exchange the Forest Service would trade a parcel of approximately 384 acres in size for three tracts of ALH land, which adjoin FS land in Pope and Jackson Counties.

The federal parcel is entirely forested with bottomland and upland hardwoods, including swamp chestnut oak, American elm, red maple, sweetgum, maple, ash, tulip tree and the Forest’s largest and highest quality cherrybark oaks. It’s rare to find such a diverse bottomland forest habitat within the Saline River watershed, which is constantly being bombarded with clearing, mining, ditching and draining. Canoeist and anglers enjoy recreating in this section of the Saline River, while hikers, bird watchers and hunters enjoy the beautiful woodland.

The natural wonders alone should be ample reason for the Forest Service to hang on to this parcel, but the discovery of federally-endangered Indiana and gray bats should stop the swap. This past summer, gray bats were detected and one Indiana bat maternity roost was found on the site and 2 more maternity sites were found on FS land very near by. These are the only known Indiana bat maternity roosts known on the eastern half of the Forest.

The proposed land swap is in complete violation of the Endangered Species Act. The Endangered Species Act requires the Forest Service to “use all methods and procedures which are necessary” to preserve endangered species. The Forest Service is required by law to give the highest priority to the protection and recovery of endangered species.

The Shawnee National Forest is seeking scoping comments on this proposal to swap land-for-land with American Land Holdings (ALH), a subsidiary of Peabody Coal, Co. Let your voice  be heard–take action here!

Southern Illinois Judge Grants Natural Gas Rights From More Than 1000 People Without Their Permission

Just two weeks ago the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a draft report linking hydraulic fracturing to groundwater contamination. Yet, despite this report, yesterday a Saline County, Illinois judge granted Colorado-based Next Energy, LLC the right to lease mineral rights from more than a thousand people without their permission!

Dimock, PA drilling site of Cabot Oil and Gas. State officials ordered the Houston-based energy company to permanently shut down some of its wells, pay nearly a quarter million dollars in fines, and permanently provide drinking water to affected families for contaminating local drinking water.

Deep beneath the coal seams of Saline County lay the New Albany and Maquoketa shale deposits at 4,200 to 6,100 feet deep respectively. Next Energy, LLC plans to extract natural gas from the deep shale beds with a process called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Fracking is process in which water, sand and chemicals are injected into the well at high pressure to create small cracks in the rock that allow natural gas to freely flow to the surface.

Toxic chemicals are used at every stage of the fracking process.  Drilling muds, a combination of toxic and non-toxic substances, are used to drill the well. To facilitate the release of natural gas after drilling, approximately a million or more gallons of fluids, loaded with toxic chemicals, are injected underground under high pressure using diesel-powered heavy equipment that runs continuously during the operation.

One well can be fracked 10 or more times and there can be up to 28 wells on one well pad.  An estimated 30% to 70% of the fracking fluid will resurface, bringing back with it toxic substances that are naturally present in underground oil and gas deposits, as well as the chemicals used in the fracking fluid.

Fracking pad with waste water impoundment in Pennsylvania. Photo courtesy of http://www.marcellus-shale.us

Most well pads contain pits that hold used drilling muds, fracking fluids and the contaminated water (produced water) which surfaces with the gas.  Produced water often continues to surface for the life of the well (20 to 30 years) and is often hauled in “water trucks” to large, central evaporation pits.  Many of the chemicals found in drilling and evaporation pits are considered hazardous wastes and upon closure, every pit has the potential to become a superfund site.

In addition to the land and water contamination issues, at each stage of production and delivery, tons of toxic volatile compounds, including benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, etc., and fugitive natural gas (methane), escape and mix with nitrogen oxides from the exhaust of diesel-driven equipment to produce ground-level air pollution-causing ozone, which can spread up to 200 miles beyond the immediate region where gas is being produced. Ozone not only causes irreversible damage to the lungs, it is equally damaging to many plants and crops.

Well water contaminated with methane catches fire at the tap. Photo from the film, Gasland.

Hydraulic fracturing is one of only two underground injection processes exempted from the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. States where hydraulic fracturing occurs have varying regulatory requirements, some of which are weak. For example, in Illinois oil and gas companies are not required to publicly disclose the types and amounts of chemicals that are injected underground in the fracturing process. In other words, nearby residents or landowners have no way of knowing what kinds of chemicals are being injected underground that may have contaminated their drinking water.

Between the county judge’s overeager bow to industry and Illinois’ oil and gas industry exemptions from the safe drinking water act, the citizens of Saline County are being fracked in more ways than one!

Sources:
The Endocrine Disruption Exchange, Inc.
Sierra Club