America's Fracking Mayor: Rahm Emanuel

Sandra Steingraber gave an excellent comment for my new piece about Chicago's energy aggregation contract. 

I grew up Illinois coal country, just downwind from a massive, coal-burning power plant that sent all its power north to Chicago. When I was in high school, in the 1970s, that plant was the biggest polluter in the state, and everyone in my home town of Pekin all suffered from breathing its emissions. My 84-year-old mom, a life-long non-smoker, has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema. And because that coal, when it burned, sent mercury raining down on our river, the local fish became too poisoned to eat.

Unfortunately, Chicago residents have been sold a bill of goods by officials who misrepresented a switch from coal to natural gas as 'clean' energy. Natural gas, predominately extracted by fracking, is anything but clean, and once again, people far from Chicagoland will suffer so that Chicagoans can turn on the lights. This time, it's Pennsylvania children living in the shale fields, rather than downstate Illinois kids living by the strip mines, whose health will be sacrificed. So, how is that progress?

For the climate, extraction by fracking results in tremendous leakage of methane, a greenhouse gas 86 times more damaging for the climate than carbon dioxide over 20 years. For people, those living near fracking suffer a range of health ailments including respiratory illnesses, birth defects, and the threat of contaminated water and earthquakes. Chicagoans deserve better than false representations of natural gas as a clean power source; they need true leadership that boldly moves to renewable energy.

It's impossible to take Rahm seriously as an environmental leader after he sold fracking as clean energy. Read the rest at HuffingtonPost.

Governor Rauner's Environment & Energy Adviser Represents Many of Illinois' Worst Polluters

Check out my latest at Huffington Post blog.

One of Bruce Rauner's first appointments as Governor is a troubling sign for citizens hoping he'll protect the public and environment from toxic pollutants. Rauner's new Policy Adviser for Environment & Energy is Alec Messina, previously Executive Director and registered lobbyist for the Illinois Environmental Regulatory Group (IERG).

At IERG, Messina represented the interests of some of the state's largest polluters, including Peabody Energy, ExxonMobil, Chris Cline's Foresight Energy, Prairie State Generating Company, Dynegy Midwest Generation, Ameren, ADM and others.

I write more about the appointment and Rauner's first policy statements on energy at the link.

Also worth reading is Bruce Rushton's article at Illinois Times about some of Messina's actions in the Blagojevich administration.

Can Illinois Learn From New York's Victory Against Fracking?

Illinois environmentalists are cheering the spectacular success of the movement to ban fracking in New York. The victory is justifiably spurring reflection on how it was done. What happened in New York that Illinois environmentalists can learn from?

• Environmental and public health groups made an unambiguous, united push for a ban or moratorium, not regulation.
• They kept constant, aggressive grassroots pressure on Governor Cuomo and other politicians, especially during election season.
• State government conducted a thorough study on potential public health impacts before fracking began.
• They took the fight to small towns and potentially impacted rural areas, not just New York City.
• As Mark Ruffalo wrote, "The fact that we didn't let the big greens come in and make back room deals was also important to note."
• They engaged in acts of nonviolent civil disobedience, including over 90 arrests near Seneca Lake since October.

Essentially, New York fractivists took the opposite approach of most big green groups active in the Illinois statehouse.

Illinois greens started with a basic chemical disclosure bill several years ago rather than organizing the passionate grassroots desire for a ban. Although there were efforts to ask legislators to pass a moratorium, statehouse green groups remained focused on various regulatory bills. Some of them eventually won a seat at the negotiating table with industry lobbyists to write a regulatory law by ignoring the loud and frequent objection of environmentalists in impacted areas who said regulation cannot make fracking safe.

During the past year, pro-regulation groups joined Governor Pat Quinn in remaining silent about his unpopular support for fracking. Sierra Club even issued a greenwash endorsement of Quinn as a "climate leader" despite his horrible record on fossil fuel extraction.

Several groups continued to engage in the regulatory process without meaningful buy-in or communication with the downstate anti-fracking movement. They tell environmental audiences they prefer a ban, but told legislators they'll settle for regulation. The result is a deeply divided movement that's less effective on all energy issues.

What's next for Illinois?

More fractivists are focusing on county government, like a victory lead by Illinois People's Action to stop a proposed oil drill in McLean county. Union county is forming a group to study the impacts of fracking and conventional drilling at the urging of the Shawnee Sentinels. There's a good reason why Illinois law doesn't allow counties to ban fracking. Some of them would actually do it.

In southern Illinois, lifelong residents and grandmothers are training to engage in nonviolent civil disobedience to stop fracking operations. Additionally, momentum is building to form a coalition similar to New York that will coordinate statewide action between groups.

Illinoisans made their opposition to fracking clear through unprecedented participation in the public hearing process and by choosing not to show up for Pat Quinn on election day. But the industry's farcical campaign to marginalize fractivists as a tiny fringe continues to have lingering influence among legislators and reporters in the statehouse. One result is inadequate coverage given to the anti-fracking movement. Fractivists can't rely on regional news outlets traditionally sympathetic to fossil fuel interests to get our message out.

What the movement does next year won't make the impact it should if most of the public and politicians don't hear about it. That's why the movement needs it's own source for accurate, full coverage of how extraction industries are impacting the state.

Illinois environmentalists had discouraging setbacks in 2014. Resolving to follow New York's example will bring more success in 2015.

Media Bias is 25 Sports Writers and Zero Environment Reporters

Any news outlet that distributes information unflattering to Republicans or views out of step with conservative ideology will be hounded with cries of "liberal media bias." The badgering will continue until all news outlets are as "fair and balanced" as Fox News. But the most consequential expression of bias in the press is in what stories are covered and what's ignored.

I checked reporting staff listed on four of downstate Illinois' largest newspapers: The Peoria Journal-Star, Belleville News-Democrat, State Journal-Register, and Southern Illinoisan. They list 25 sports writers and editors between them. They name zero editors or reporters primarily dedicated to energy, climate change, and the environment. That's your media bias.

The same problem exists in national news outlets but the impacts hit harder in local news. The most important stories are sometimes covered by reporters who have limited subject background. Fewer environmental stories are covered at all. And when there's news about a fertilizer plant opening in central Illinois, for example, no one mentions that they're some of the most potentially dangerous facilities for workers and the environment.

I should acknowledge that I've been interviewed by a number of excellent reporters who do a good job covering energy issues. In particular, Springfield's alternative weekly, Illinois Times, has been picking up the stories others ignore for years. The Harrisburg Daily-Register doesn't shy away from asking tough questions about the coal industry. The best pro-environment editorials in the Southern are usually from, ironically enough, Sports Editor Les Winkeler.

But it's disappointing that there aren't more exceptions. Many other good reporters are limited by the decisions their publisher and editor make about assigning resources.

Newspapers often write about the influence campaign contributions have on politicians. I'd like to see the same principles of disclosure applied to the news industry. Why not release an annual report about advertising revenue from the fossil fuel industry plus the financial interests of media parent companies? Call me a cynic but I suspect those financial factors have something to do with the for-profit media's failure to focus on pollution and climate change.

What should we do then? There's no shortage of stories to be covered in Illinois with the recent expansion of coal mining, the threat of fracking, the future of coal plants on the line, and clean energy struggling to expand its presence. Twenty-five reporters wouldn't be enough!

This is why I'm launching Illinois Energy Justice. The site will chronicle energy issues from the front lines of the state's energy transition with writing by myself and others. It will also be a collaboration with grassroots groups to highlight their work on coal, fracking and clean energy.

My kickstarter page will fund the launch of a website and expenses for my first round of stories focusing on the work of grassroots groups opposed to fracking. I've broken several stories missed by others, including the state mine safety regulator who was taking political donations from a coal mine operator, and millions in state grants going to coal industry pork projects. I'd like to break many more.

If you're tired of environmental stories and viewpoints not getting the coverage they deserve, now is the time to do something about it by donating.

Profile in Cowardice: Senator Don Harmon Fracks Illinois

A clip from my latest up at HuffingtonPost. 

An industry lobbyist told reporters he was thrilled with the updated rules, while environmental groups were forced to admit they hadn't even seen the changes.
Senator Harmon directed the process as chair of the committee. He could have insisted the rules be made available to the public in advance. He could have insisted that changes be debated in public. He could have asked committee members to explain their vote. He could have done a roll call vote instead of a voice vote so citizens have a public record of where their representatives stand. He could have made the rules stronger or rejected them completely. Instead, he gave the oil & gas industry exactly what they wanted. 

The Illinois fracking law was negotiated by lobbyists behind closed doors with no southern Illinois environmentalists invited. The rules were finished the same way, but this time even the pro-regulation statehouse green groups were shut outside.

Thanks for reading and sharing.

Illinois Wasting Millions on Another Coal-to-Gas Pork Project

My new blog at Huffington Post is on the latest Illinois coal subsidy fail. 

The state of Illinois is throwing millions of taxpayer dollars at another coal-to-gas plant just two years after a similar project ended in failure.
The Coal Development Fund has so far given Homeland Fuels two grants totaling$4.25 million in taxpayer dollars. The first grant was awarded in 2013 to fund a study for the proposed "Coal to Diesel Pilot Project" next to their coal supplier, which will apparently be a nearby Chris Cline-owned mine in central Illinois. The company moved addresses from Hillsboro to Litchfield before receiving a second grant for $3,500,000. There's no indication of how the plant would limit their global warming emissions or other environmental impacts.

Read and share the rest.

Will Illinois Ban Fracking After Disaster Strikes Or Before?

I forgot to add links here to my latest blog post! It's up at EcoWatch and Huffington Post.

An Illinois ban on fracking is inevitable. The question is whether it will happen beforeor after a major fracking disaster.

The public comment period on Illinois' draft regulations ended January 3 with groups in potentially impacted areas repeating their call for a ban on fracking. A group of southern Illinois residents representing several grassroots groups drove to Illinois Department of Natural Resources headquarters in Springfield to join with Frack Free Illinois in delivering comments on the regulation and a petition asking Governor Quinn to oversee a rewrite.

Tabitha Tripp, of Anna-Jonesboro, said in a statement, "these inadequate rules will leave nothing but legacies of disasters to those who voted on this irresponsible law and abandon Illinois tax payers who will indeed foot the bill for public health issues like cancer and leukemia."

You can read the rest here.

One purpose of this essay is to promote my new MoveOn.org petition to ban fracking in Illinois. I was selected as one of 100 MoveOn.org Fracking Fighters so the petition is part of that effort. It's got off to a fast start and is still growing steadily!

I know I get cynical about so many petitions around and whether they'll be noticed by anyone. I'm working with people on fun ways to make sure this one is noticed by elected officials. It's part of an ongoing organizing effort so sharing this petition will help build the effort to stop fracking in Illinois. Please sign and share if you haven't already!

Decatur, IL Fracking Hearing Video

Here's video of a few speeches and a pan of the big crowd at the IDNR public comment hearing on fracking regulation held December 17, 2013. Between my amateur camera and amateur video skills, I didn't get that much usable footage, but the select comments in this video are excellent.

The opening music clip is Dust Bowl Children by Decatur native Alison Krauss and Union Station. The lyrics seem appropriate.

Strip mines and one crop farming drained the green earth dry.
We lost it all till only love was left, and that was the one thing money can’t buy.
We’re all Dust Bowl Children
Singin’ the dust bowl song
Well, the crops won’t grow,
And the dust just blows
When the green fields are gone.
When the green grass growing fields are gone.

I previously posted comments by Roy Wehrle that aren't included in the above video, and you can catch video of the entire hearing at the end of the Illinois Times article.

Fracking Comments from Effingham. Even a Monkey Wouldn't Allow Fracking.

On a dark and foggy night, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources held a public hearing in Effingham to take comments on proposed fracking regulation. It was less well attended than other hearings after being quickly rescheduled to December 16 due to a snowstorm. I'm not kidding about the fog. The deer hanging out along the side of the highway didn't make the drive more fun either.

Despite the dangerous driving conditions and late rescheduling, citizens still came to speak out against fracking and weak regulation proposed in Illinois. Only three people spoke in favor of fracking and two of them admitted to working in the oil extraction industry.



In this first video, Nancy spoke about the restrictive rules on who has standing to request a public hearing for fracking permits. Since fracking fluids travel far, her water well could be poisoned by a fracking site for which she has no right to request a public hearing. "Of course Illinoisans can expect the oil and gas industry to badger the hearing officers tasked with deciding whether or not individuals have standing to request public hearings."

Bob, a Bond county resident, is worried about how much water fracking companies will use and where it will come from. The regulations place no limits on water usage and won't protect the depletion of streams and drinking water supplies, as happened in Texas fracked towns. "I have to haul water. Will I go to town and will there be 20 tanker trucks in front of me? I don't know."

Girwana spoke about the failure of the rules to regulate fracking operations that use water below specified levels. She also pointed out that DNR doesn't have to answer questions at public hearings. "How is the public to be assured that their concerns will be addressed if IDNR only has to sit and listen to them without responding."

Then a monkey owned by Gene from Makanda, Illinois made some of the most thoughtful comments of the evening about how extraction economies target and harm poor people. "We're between two major seismic zones. There's scientific evidence to show that fracking causes earthquakes and we are between two major seismic zones. It is scandalous that you would even consider doing this here. You all wear ties and I wear a monkey suit. I look like the weirdo, but no, look, you are the irresponsible ones here that are even considering doing this. ...This can't be made safe and it has to stop in Illinois."



Vito Mastrangelo spoke about his concern that, despite owning the mineral rights to his property in southern Illinois, horizontal fracking could happen underneath his land without his consent. Noise, light and other pollution from large scale fracking could dramatically change the region. "We're not talking about a few wells. This could look like a large city."

Jessica Fujan spoke for Food and Water Watch about Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and toxic open pits of fracking waste fluids. "DNR should disallow all permits until fracking is proven safe and risk free."

I'll post more video from the Effingham hearing tomorrow. Comments can still be submitted to DNR through January 3.

Chicago and Southern Illinois Hearings Show Unity Against Fracking

I have another piece on Huffington Post blog. The Illinois political establishment has vastly underestimated the intesity of opposition to fracking.

Several hundred people attended over two hours of public comments at Rend Lake College in southern Illinois. Only two expressed support for fracking. A former oil rig worker, a 30-year former coal miner, small business owners, at least three Eagle Scouts, and lifelong southern Illinois residents gave testimony criticizing fracking and the proposed rules.

After making technical comments, legendary Shawnee Forest defender Sam Stearns warned, "The fact is that there's going to be a good deal of resistance to any effort to frack here in southern Illinois because people like myself who live in southern Illinois don't intend to be unintended consequences or collateral damage. I can assure you there will be resistance at every step of this proposed fracking."

If you like it, remember that sharing is caring.

I posted just over half the Rend Lake College hearing comments in four youtube videos. A backup battery for the camcorder is now on my Christmas list.



There are three more hearings scheduled in Decatur, Effingham, and Carbondale. You can also make comments online.

Representative Scherer Votes Against Marriage Equality. Begs for Primary Challenge.

In August I wrote about Illinois State Representative Sue Scherer’s noncommittal comments on the same sex marriage proposal and the grassroots campaign to encourage a yes vote. As locals who follow the issue already know, she voted against the bill. Thankfully, Illinois still approved marriage equality without her help!

She must have felt strongly about the issue because it’s difficult to see any political advantage to her vote. She represents a strongly Democratic gerrymandered district where being liberal would only make her re-election easier.

But, this isn’t the only issue where she seems uninterested in representing the district. She hasn’t been visibly outspoken on public employee pensions, which is inexcusable for someone representing so many state workers in the Springfield and Decatur area.

Additionally, she has one of the worst environmental records in legislature. Her mediocre 57% IEC rating is worse than it sounds since most of the environmental votes this year were largely non-controversial issues that passed by overwhelming margins. Even notoriously anti-environment Republicans, such as Mike Bost, ranked better on this year's scorecard than Scherer. It's hard to imagine why she's opposed to letting cities plan green stormwater management or why she voted against expanding energy efficiency programs.

Her voting record might be appropriate in a conservative Republican district, but her failure to vote with the Democratic district she represents has many residents looking forward to her primary election in March.

Moderates and Independents Oppose Fracking in Southern Illinois

A new poll by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute shows surprising levels of opposition to fracking among southern Illinois residents. Despite using the cliche, false choice narrative of "jobs v. the environment," poll respondendents were evenly split on whether fracking should be encouraged.

Surprisingly, moderates and independents are more opposed to fracking than either Democrats or Republicans. Among moderates, 47.4% believe the state should not encourage fracking while 33.0% believe we should. Independents are against fracking by an even wider margin with 53.7% against and 28.2% for.

As someone who has worked on coal issues in southern Illinois, I'm surprised to see the region so divided over another fossil fuel extraction industry. A minority know how the coal industry is a drain on both the regional economy and environment. The Simon Institute poll has a whoping 80.9% with a favorable or very favorable opinion of the coal industry. That level of support doesn't extend to fracking, despite almost universal support from local state legislators and news outlets.

Some of Illinois' conservative political establishment still hold to the outdated view that the environment is a special interest for hippie tree-huggers. This poll gives a reality check that fracking is a wedge issue which could be exploited by candidates in either major party. People react when you threaten their water supply and the places they love, no matter what their party affiliation.

Many state legislators voted for the fracking regulatory bill earlier this year believing it was a consensus issue. Lobbyists from industry groups and a few statehouse green groups agreed to a regulatory bill that allowed fracking to move forward. This poll shows that the few Chicago-headquartered environmental groups which advocated for the fracking bill didn't represent the views of many southern Illinoisans, much less environmentalists in the region who demand a moratorium. State legislators may find that their vote to launch the fracking assault will be more controversial among swing voters than they were lead to believe.

The Two Faces of Pat Quinn's Environmental Policy Puts Downstate in Danger

Governor Pat Quinn recently spoke at the annual dinner of the Illinois Environmental Council held in Chicago, where he was applauded as a longtime ally. His record as Governor reflects his commitment to clean energy and the environment. At least when he's in Chicago.

When Quinn travels south, the tree-hugging Dr. Jekyll transforms into a dirty energy Mr. Hyde on issue after issue.

New Coal Plants

Environmentalists celebrated when Quinn vetoed a bill to provide rate increases for a coal-to-gas plant Leucadia Corp proposed in a heavily polluted area of southeastern Chicago.

But for southern Illinois, Quinn signed a bill to subsidize a similar coal-to-gas plant proposed near Mt. Vernon. When signing the bill Quinn claimed, “This important project will help revive the coal industry in southern Illinois." The project eventually failed after plunging natural gas prices made it difficult for the company to find investors.

After taking opposite positions for the northern and southern ends of the state, what happened when a company asked for a mandatory rate increase to subsidize yet another coal gasification plant proposed in the central Illinois town of Taylorville? Quinn stayed publicly neutral.

Expanding Coal Exports

Leading climate change scientist James Hansen recently warned that burning all fossil fuels "would make most of the planet uninhabitable by humans." At an event in Springfield, not long after becoming Governor, Quinn encouragingly called climate change the great challenge of our time.

Yet, earlier this year, Quinn bragged about setting a record for coal exports that made Illinois the fifth highest coal producing state. The release from Quinn's office highlights efforts by his administration to build more coal export infrastructure and promote coal in foreign markets including, "supporting trade missions to the markets which represent the best prospects for Illinois coal, and potentially encouraging foreign investment in Illinois coal properties." That will often mean nations with weak or non-existent pollution standards.

The Governor signed several bills to boost coal mining, including one to allow a surface mining operation in a state park, and another to ease the permitting process for strip mines. No, that's not a joke. He actually leased 160 acres of a state park in southern Illinois for a strip mine.

As the expansion continues, residents in mining areas have to contend with a state Office of Mines and Minerals that's notoriously cozy with industry and an EPA that will apparently issue a permit to even the worst mine proposed by habitual repeat offenders. Quinn's failure to reform these agencies to better serve the public interest, rather than extraction special interests, is a disappointment to many residents in impacted communities.

People in poorer nations will experience higher cases of asthma, heart disease, birth defects, and learning disabilities among children as a result of burning Illinois' high sulfur coal. Most Illinoisans may easily ignore those distant consequences, but not all of coal's impacts can be exported. Destruction will continue in mining communities, and everyone will suffer the global consequences of climate change.

Clean Jobs for Northern Illinois - Dangerous Jobs for Southern

A recent report on green job growth included a graphic showing that all clean energy jobs created so far this year were in the northern half of the state. That didn't happen by accident. Illinois' economic development agency, DCEO, does good work promoting clean energy jobs in some areas. But, their agenda in southern Illinois is dominated by the Office of Coal Development (OCD).

The OCD oversees most of the millions in taxpayer subsidies Illinois gives the coal industry annually. The fund helps keep old, polluting coal plants running, and encourages officials in rural Illinois to stay focused on coal as an economic development strategy. Predictably, waiting for the mines to re-open has largely kept coal country in poverty compared to other parts of the state.

The same office oversees a state funded propaganda campaign that lies to children about coal. Quinn has ignored appeals to rework or end the educational program distributed in schools that tells children fairy tails of how safe and clean coal really is.

Coal is America's deadliest power source. Many of those deaths are caused by air emissions that contribute to respiratory problems and heart disease. The death toll also includes mining accidents, like the recent one at a Peapody mine in Saline county. Twenty people lost their lives in mine accidents last year. And despite preventative equipment, Black Lung still kills hundreds of miners every year.

By allowing coal to set the agenda, Quinn is promoting safe, clean energy jobs for some of Illinois, while telling people further south they should be satisfied to base their economy on some of the most dangerous and deadly jobs in America.

A Massive New Assault on the Environment

Quinn's most controversial action on energy is to enthusiastically launch the Illinois fracking industry, which will become one of the most expansive assaults on the environment in state history. Quinn brags that his fracking rules will create jobs while protecting the environment. But, even groups who supported the bill admit it's inadequate. Residents will now be subjected to a massive science experiment as we wait for more proof that fracking can't be safely regulated in a region prone to flooding and earthquakes.

Quinn had other options. As Governor, he could have supported a moratorium and pledged to veto anything else. He could have asked his staff to craft stronger regulations with or without support from industry. Instead, he asked industry lobbyists to write legislation and invited his allies in statehouse green groups to go along.

Some legislators and environmental groups who helped write the regulatory bill claim it had to be passed because fracking is already happening in Illinois. Supporting inadequate regulation was better than a fracking boom with no safeguards in place. They cited "breaking news" of a single fracking well already operating (in a county where vertical fracking has been going on for many years) as a pressure tactic to quickly pass the bill. But, if industry spokespersons are to be believed, there was no danger of widespread fracking happening without passage of a regulatory bill.

A lobbyist supporting the bill for the Illinois Manufactures Association said, "Industry is not going to move forward until there's a regulatory framework in place. Each well costs five to 25 million dollars so they're not going to make that type of investment unless they know the structure they're operating under."

An environmental attorney quoted by the Chicago Tribune explained, "If legislation doesn't pass at some point this year, from the state's perspective the risk is that the industry might invest elsewhere in other states that have more favorable conditions to invest in and develop these sorts of wells." In the same article, the executive director of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce Energy Council claimed that, "without regulations in place, a tacit moratorium already exists."

The head of the Illinois Oil and Gas Association said, “We agreed to the regulatory scheme because we felt like the alternative was a very real chance that we would end up with some type of moratorium."

According to multiple industry experts, the most likely outcome of not passing a fracking regulatory bill this year would have been a continued delay of fracking, not the massive expansion of unregulated fracking environmentalists were threatened with.

The hazard presented by a single propagandist fracking operation will now be multiplied by hundreds and thousands of times thanks to Quinn and his allies who launched the fracking assault. Quinn could have supported a moratorium or at least slowed the process down for a thorough public discussion. It was rushed through the legislature with little debate because Quinn made fracking a personal priority as a job creation plan, and his allies in a few big green groups chose to cooperate despite the objection of the environmental grassroots.

Shortly after the fracking bill passed the legislature, Quinn announced a federally-backed loan for a wastewater treatment facility in Decatur by saying, “A region’s economic and environmental strength is based on the availability of clean water." That's exactly what worries people in fracking regions.

No Environmental Justice for Rural Areas

Illinois recently formed an environmental justice commission with most of the members appointed by Governor Quinn. The Environmental Justice Act states, "the principle of environmental justice requires that no segment of the population, regardless of race, national origin, age, or income, should bear disproportionately high or adverse effects of environmental pollution." It also acknowledges that some communities suffer disproportionately from environmental hazards.

The commission includes representatives of organizations working in neighborhoods of the greater Chicago area that have been subjected to a greater share of deadly pollutants, in part because local residents typically don't have the same resources to protect their neighborhood as wealthy communities. The commission currently includes no representative of organizations working in rural downstate communities impacted by mining and fracking.

Low-income rural areas face increased pollution impacts for many of the same reasons as urban communities of color. Small towns often support any project that promises jobs, no matter how dangerous and deadly, because they see no better alternative.

When signing the Environmental Justice Act, Quinn remarked, “We want to make sure that all Illinois families live in healthy communities. This commission will help us strengthen environmental laws so that every Illinois resident has clean air and clean water.” He signed a bill launching the fracking industry two months earlier.

Perhaps Quinn didn't appoint anyone from rural downstate because it might force him to recognize that his policies make him one of the greatest perpetrators of environmental injustice in Illinois.

An Illinois Tradition

Despite its waning national influence, coal is still powerful in southern Illinois, so it's not surprising that Quinn panders to the industry as he moves south. Quinn isn't the first Illinois politician to solicit support from both environmentalists and the coal industry. Rod Blagojevich, for example, sent massive subsidies to coal mines and power plants while also passing a renewable energy portfolio standard to increase wind power generation. This Illinois dynamic influenced Barack Obama's "all of the above" energy strategy that provided billions in coal subsidies as part of the federal stimulus bill.

But, Quinn might be the first Governor to so shamelessly present himself as a courageous hero of the environmental movement when in Chicago while boasting with equal passion in southern Illinois about his commitment to expand destructive coal mining and fracking.

It's more difficult to understand why some statewide environmental groups allow him to continue his Jekyll and Hyde routine without raising their voice in objection. The Illinois Environmental Council tweeted a comment after he spoke at their dinner that Quinn "always stands up for clean energy." That's only true if you turn a blind eye to his actions in the southern half of the state, which is apparently what many are doing.

Brace for more earthquakes in southern Illinois

A new scientific study confirms that pumping fracking fluids into the ground increases seismic activity. It's grim news as Illinois begins a fracking rush in major seismic zones.

The scientists looked at three big quakes: the Tohuku-oki earthquake in Japan in 2011 (magnitude 9), the Maule in Chile in 201 (an 8.8 magnitude), and the Sumatra in Indonesia in 2012 (an 8.6). They found that, as much as 20 months later, those major quakes triggered smaller ones in places in the Midwestern US where fluids have been pumped underground for energy extraction.

Unless I missed a major section of the bill, Illinois' new fracking rules haven't found a way to regulate an increase in earthquakes.

The state budget was the biggest concern during the last session of the legislature as Governor Quinn struggles to find money to pay for the state's pension obligation. There was frequent talk among legislators of how much state revenue would be generated by fracking. Illinois is attempting to partially solve its budget problem at the expense of the water supply, public safety, and natural environment of a politically weak portion of the state.

Amazingly, the Governor convinced the staff of several environmental groups to go along with what may be remembered as the greatest environmental injustice in state history. Hopefully, other states will learn from Illinois' mistake as residents suffer the consequences of fracking that can't be safely regulated.

Public denied details on Illinois fracking negotiations

Several Illinois politicians bragged that new fracking rules were written with everyone at the table. That "everyone" means lobbyists from various statehouse groups, industry and politicians meeting behind closed doors, but not the public or representatives of southern Illinois groups opposed to fracking.

Last week I filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the offices of Governor Pat Quinn, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, and State Representative John Bradley for minutes of meetings that lead to Illinois' new fracking rules. As expected, all three handed over nothing. Blogger doesn't appear to have a way for me to upload pdf files, so if anyone would like to see the letters just shoot me an email.

The Governor's office replied that they have "no documents responsive to your request." The Attorney General's office stated the same, but with the helpful suggestion that the legislature may have such documents since negotiations were convened by a member of the Illinois General Assembly. The letter from the legislature states they have no such documents on record either, but even if they did, they're only responding to me "as a courtesy" because they aren't subject to Freedom of Information Act requests.

Yes, for those who are unaware, members of the Illinois General Assembly decided they're not a "public body" that must comply with FOIA requests. Don't expect any details on how your state representatives make laws.

Those who work in the statehouse will see this as nothing unusual. Many major pieces of legislation are negotiated this way. The Illinois environmental movement has won victories in the past by supporting similarly negotiated compromise bills, such as a utility rate hike that included energy efficiency spending.

The trouble is that fracking isn't like other issues. Both because of the impact it will have on the state and because of the strong grassroots opposition to the idea that it can be safely regulated. The decision by a few environmental organizations to treat it like any other issue, instead of making a unified grassroots push for only a moratorium, is why many in the movement feel they've been betrayed by their leaders.

Anyway, the real reason for this post is to link a new series of videos with Sandra Steingraber talking about why events in Illinois must not be a model for the nation. They're all worth watching twice just in case you miss something the first time. The second video includes comments about why participating in closed-door negotiations worked against environmentalists this time...

Can the Shawnee National Forest survive regulated fracking?

After watching the state house overwhelmingly vote for a bill that will launch the fracking rush in Illinois, I spotted the cover of Illinois Times' latest issue. "A Guide to the Shawnee National Forest."



Go soon.

When I first heard someone claim that fracking would destroy the Shawnee, I scoffed. It can't be worse than coal mining, right? There are protections in national forests, and drilling has gone on in the region for years.

I didn't understand the massive scale of fracking proposed for downstate Illinois, and how much more damage fracking installations do than the small wells Illinois is used to seeing. Even fracking that complies with regulations supported by Pat Quinn, Lisa Madigan and several accommodating environmental groups can result in the destruction of the crown jewel of Illinois.



Fracking is allowed in national forests. Here's what that looks like in Allegheny National Forest, where drilling pads and roads are getting bigger and further fragmenting natural areas. Sites like this could be repeated hundreds or thousands of times all over the Shawnee, even if companies comply with state regulation.



Five rural southern Illinois counties asked for a moratorium on fracking, but the regulatory bill takes away their authority to ban the practice. Representative John Bradley said in debate that cities will be able to restrict fracking, but that defense is a cruel joke when discussing rural counties with large unincorporated areas.

The passage of the fracking bill left many worried and crying last night. Those tears were made bitter by hearing legislators avoid addressing weaknesses in the proposed regulations by repeatedly invoking the names of environmental allies supporting the bill.

But, there's more to be done. As Sandra Steingraber said to a member of the Attorney General's staff, if the fracking bill passes the movement will "use what's happening here in Illinois as a focal point in our work. We would plan to bring freedom rider buses here, civil disobedience is part of our strategies and tactics, because at the end of the day the regulations can't make fracking safe."

People are aware of Illinois' notoriously weak oversight of extraction industries. And the passage of the regulatory bill will make it more difficult to save the Shawnee. But, there's hope of getting more protection for national forests through federal action and grassroots efforts by local activists. That fight will continue and it can be won despite today's setback.

Interview with second citizen arrested for demanding fracking meeting with Governor Quinn

A second person in two days has been arrested for demanding that Governor Pat Quinn meet with citizens about proposed fracking legislation. Southern Illinois resident Dayna Conner was arrested for refusing to leave the Capitol building Wednesday after two days of waiting outside Quinn's office with others who want a meeting.

Governor Quinn and members of the legislature brag about the fracking bill being negotiated with lobbyists from multiple interests groups. It's how controversial issues are often dealt with in state government. Legislators vote after lobbyists from all sides emerge from a back room with a deal. Fracking negotiations were done behind closed doors by invitation only.

This time, citizens aren't standing for it. Residents in fracking regions like Dayna Conner are demanding that they have a voice in a public process.

I spoke with Dayna earlier Wednesday outside the Governor's office while she waited for a meeting. Here's a short clip of why she felt her arrest was necessary.



She believes that citizens in regions threatened by fracking and grassroots activists haven't been heard by the Governor and his coalition of lobbyists. After 18 months of citizens requesting a meeting, she says the Governor is siding with industry over residents in fracking regions.

After the bill regulating fracking passed the House Executive Committee, opponents told me they felt ignored and dismissed by their elected officials. Southern Illinois was represented in negotiations by the bill's main sponsor, Representative John Bradley. He spoke about how much he cares for water quality in his area, but after taking thousands in campaign donations from fracking interests, he has zero credibility.

Opponents of the bill have many reasons for believing it's inadequate. My biggest concern is that all permit applications must be approved or denied within 60 days. Thousands of permit applications are expected in a short period of time. They'll be processed by a badly understaffed and underfunded Department of Natural Resources that already fails to adequately enforce existing regulation.

When there's no time to thoroughly review a permit before the 60 day deadline, can we expect an agency that's notoriously cozy with industry to exercise caution on the side of public protection? This is the same state that issued an absurd coal mine permit to a company with hundreds of environmental violations.

All of this will be happening in some of the poorest areas of the state where many people don't have the resources to hire an attorney to help protect their property and water rights. I find it difficult to believe there will be meaningful oversight as long as permits must be issued so quickly, regardless of how little they have been reviewed.

This looks like a recipe for a rubber-stamp disaster.

Dayna Conner has been released and the sit-in will continue. Stop Fracking Illinois is encouraging people to join the sit-in outside the Governor's office in the Capitol building and to join a coalition of groups for an event Friday at noon. There's no apparent danger of arrest for peaceful participants unless a person chooses not to leave at the end of the day after warnings from law enforcement.

Failed clean coal projects cost Illinois taxpayers millions

Illinois is attempting to become ground zero for clean coal projects. That effort cost state taxpayers millions of dollars for failed coal plants that will never be built. I recently filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) to find out how much their Office of Coal Development (OCD) gave to several proposed coal plants that were abandoned.

The OCD boasts of spending more to support the coal industry than any other state in the union. In 2011 their three primary coal programs spent $408.5 million in state taxpayer funds. Much of that spending is for coal mines and aging plants. For this post, I'll focus on their support of four failed projects based on the results of my FOIA request and the DCEO grant tracker.

Tenaska's Taylorville Energy Center
I haven't seen an official announcement that Tenaska is abandoning the Taylorville Energy Center, but it's definitely down for the count. After repeatedly failing over several years to pass a special rate-hike bill through the legislature, they scaled back their plans from a coal gasification and sequestration project to a natural gas plant. That appeared to cost them support from coal-friendly legislators without gaining the additional votes they needed. In July, their construction permit was withdrawn after U.S. EPA took issue with its failure to require carbon sequestration. Without a permit and little chance of getting supportive legislation, this project hasn't got a pulse.

The Coal Demonstration Program gave Tenaska $18 million in 2010. That came after Tenaska spent $2.5 million in grants given in '06-'07. State taxpayers spent $20.5 million in direct grants for the Taylorville Energy Center. That comes out to a  little over $1,800 for every resident of Taylorville.

As if that weren't enough, Tenaska expected to qualify for $30 million to $60 million per year in clean coal tax credits included in the federal stimulus bill.

The company also received preliminary qualification for a $2.579 billion federal Department of Energy loan guarantee. Their application was strongly supported by area Congressman John Shimkus. He even sent a member of his staff (who's currently running for Congress) to speak at a public hearing in favor of the loan guarantee. Later, Shimkus was outspoken in hearings criticizing the loan guarantee Solyndra received from the same Department of Energy program. In Shimkus' view, a loan guarantee for a failed solar project is worth holding hearings over, but a loan guarantee five times bigger for a failed coal project in his own district is never mentioned.

Power Holdings of Illinois
Aurora-based Power Holdings sought to build a plant in rural southern Illinois that would convert coal to synthetic natural gas. It's difficult to tell how serious they were since the company never had the finances or expertise to complete it on their own. They did manage to get the coal-friendly Illinois legislature to pass a bill forcing several utilities into 10-year contracts to buy the plant's output.

Power Holdings received three OCD grants for studies and early engineering work in 2006 and 2010 totaling $4.05 million. Additionally, an economic empowerment zone was extended to provide the owners a variety of state and local tax breaks, despite objections from residents neighboring the proposed site.

Power Holdings finally declared defeat when they were unable to find enough investors who thought it was a good idea to create a very expensive, dirty way to produce synthetic natural gas from coal at a time when regular natural gas is plentiful and cheap. The market wouldn't support this bad idea, even with mandatory contracts and millions in subsidies.

Leucadia
On Chicago's south side, another coal-to-gas plant was proposed in an area already suffering from environmental public health threats. Governor Pat Quinn vetoed a bill that would have guaranteed profits for Leucadia and potentially cost consumers billions of dollars in rate hikes. That forced the company to give up, acknowledging that it can't continue without special manipulations of the market.

Leucadia was awarded $250,000 in 2009 for a feasibility study. The next year they were granted $10 million more for additional studies and cost estimates. Millions of dollars in taxpayers funds were awarded in the early stages of the project when the company had not even applied for an EPA permit, had no legislative approval they needed to proceed, and faced significant community opposition.

FutureGen Episode 1: The Phantom Hope
The George W. Bush administration started FutureGen as a research project to demonstrate the viability of clean coal and carbon sequestration. Mattoon, Illinois won a competition to host the plant, but the federal Department of Energy soon abandoned the effort due to escalating costs. That failure wasn't taken as signal about the viability of clean coal, so a new "FutureGen 2.0" is now proposed in Meredosia, near Jacksonville, Illinois.

The first incarnation of FutureGen proposed in Mattoon was given three Coal Competitiveness Program grants totaling $1.32 million. Coles county invested millions and extended an enterprise zone to exempt FutureGen from paying many local taxes. The community was left devastated and angry when FutureGen was scuttled.

Demonstrating the persistence of Wile E. Coyote, FutureGen 2.0 was already granted $850,000 earlier this year. That totals $2.17 million in Illinois DCEO funds awarded directly to FutureGen. That number is tiny compared to the billions of dollars in federal support, but that's a topic for another blog.

Shortly before Morgan county was selected for FutureGen 2.0, DCEO gave the Christian County Development Corporation $7,500 to compete for the project. They gave $10,000 to the city of Vandalia to compete against Christian county. Plus $10,000 more to Tuscola. Jacksonville got $18,000 to push for Morgan county. In total, DCEO awarded $45,500 to four communities so they could fight each other for the same project.

The grants provided an inducement for each community to offer the FutureGen Alliance their own package of incentives on top of federal and state dollars. Dividing up the money between competitors, instead of creating a unified state plan, seems like an uncoordinated waste. But, I can't imagine a better way to boost local support, and encourage communities to overlook potential negative impacts of the project, than egging on a competition between small towns desperate for any jobs they can get.

The FutureGen Alliance told communities that cost, including donated land, and an expedited permitting process were important criteria for picking a site. Morgan County helped to find land, just as Coles County had.

A cost not included in these grants is the amount of taxpayer-funded staff time and department resources spent promoting coal to elected officials and economic development bodies. In the case of these plants, many local citizens saw that state employees were using their tax dollars to promote a coal plant they didn't want.

When successes are failures
These failures are in many ways better than OCD's successes. They gave tens of millions to Peabody's new Prairie State coal plant as well. Peabody turned to public bodies to find investors because many private investors were skeptical. They sold municipalities and co-ops on the idea that coal would produce affordable energy and jobs.

The reality turned out to be something else. Illinoisans and residents in seven other states are getting hit with large rate increases because their electrical provider invested in Prairie State. Its completion is long delayed and its costs far over budget.

It's not difficult to convince local officials in Illinois coal country that coal is a cheap fuel source. Peabody was aided by years of state economic development officials preaching the gospel of economic development through cheap coal. When construction on the plant began, Governor Rod Blagojevich bragged, along with the heads of DCEO and the Illinois Finance Authority, about working in partnership with Prairie State.

By subsidizing the plant and helping to promote the promise of cheap coal to local officials, DCEO shares the blame for Prairie State rate hikes. They helped Peabody make the sales pitch for a lemon coal plant.

It's common in coal country to hear talk of clean coal being a "bridge fuel" to use until we can build new energy sources. Wind and solar are already being built on a large scale at competitive prices right now. Clean coal has never been done on a large scale in America and can't compete on its own in the market. It would be more realistic to build wind and solar quickly as a bridge fuel while we wait for the coal industry to pursue their clean coal pipe dreams.

Central Illinois legislators have mixed environmental records in 2012

The Illinois Environmental Council recently released their 2012 legislative scorecard! Are you as excited as I am?!?!!! I totally geek out on seeing how state representatives and senators voted on environmental issues.

Twelve legislators earned a perfect score. Ten of them are women. All are Democrats. Almost all are from Cook county, except for two who are even farther north in Lake. That hurts my downstater pride. It's a racially diverse group, including rising environmental star La Shawn Ford.

The two Sangamon county legislators, Senator Larry Bomke and Representative Raymond Poe, had better records than most Republicans, scoring 64% and 54%, respectively. Rich Brauer was unimpressive with a 29% score.

Regional senate standouts with 86% include environmental champion Mike Frerichs of Champaign-Urbana, and Bill Haine of Alton. Representative Naomi Jakobsson shines with 93%, along with Eddie Lee Jackson.  Jerry Costello II is off to a decent start with 86%.

No state senator received a zero rating, but three tied for last with 21%. They were downstate Republicans Sam McCann and Kyle McCarter, plus suburbanite Dan Duffy.

Only two members of the General Assembly bottomed out with zero scores: Representative Dwight Kay of Edwardsville and David Reis of Olney. Reis' voting record must make the famous white squirrels of Olney sad.

Curiously, Reis once bragged of pushing to reconvene a Conservation Congress at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. It's a good effort that many of my friends in the environmental community participated in, along with 150 interested organizations. Reis' press release said Conservation Congress would advise on action the legislature should take and "will keep Illinois’ natural resources and its educational, cultural and economic benefits around for generations to come.”

A top recommendation of Conservation Congress to the legislature was for additional dedicated funding for DNR. The department was hit hard with major staff and budget cuts during the Blagojevich years. A fee increase for state parks became a top priority for environmental groups, downstate conservationists, and hunter/angler groups.

Reis voted against the DNR funding bill, despite his earlier support for the Conservation Congress. That vote means there won't be critical funding for DNR sites in his area like Red Hills State Park that supports fishing, hunting, hiking, boating, and horseback riding. I emailed his office to ask why he voted "no" but I haven't heard back yet.

This should be one of those issues that brings downstate legislators together across party lines to work for the best interests of communities that rely on the economic benefits of state parks. Senator Larry Bomke voted for new DNR funding. But, I'm surprised by the much longer list of downstate Republicans who voted against it, including: Bill Brady, Kyle McCarter, Sam McCann, Wayne Rosenthal and many others who represent districts that benefit economically and culturally from a well-funded, well-staffed DNR.

The bill failed and will probably come back for another vote. Hopefully, some downstate Republicans will reconsider.

One limitation of the scorecard is that it doesn't include any votes taken on Tenaska's proposed coal plant in Taylorville, but you can see one of those vote tallies here. 

This is election season so be sure to check out the scorecard and let your state representative and senator know that you're watching how they vote!

Climate change cowardice from Chicago weather anchors

I generally enjoy the WTTW PBS program Chicago Tonight, but their guests on Friday made me wonder if I had accidentally turned to Fox News. The program promised "three local weather experts discuss Chicago’s 2012 weather trends: a mild winter, a spring heat wave, and a hot, dry summer."

The host, Joel Weisman, raised the question of weather patterns gently at first. When none of the guests took the bait, he pushed them more directly by bringing up climate change. The meteorologists reacted as though someone had dropped a turd in the middle of the room. Turning away, throwing up their hands and groaning, it was obviously the last thing they wanted to talk about.

Phil Schwarz of ABC-7 first brought up the "natural cycles" argument that climate change deniers have retreated to since the global trend is now undeniable. He claimed that whether man-made pollutants are causing the problem is the topic of debate.

Next someone suggested that climate trends are regional and that harsh winters in some areas somehow disprove the fact that we're experiencing a global phenomenon.

I believe it was Jim Allsopp of the National Weather Service who inserted a little knowledge into the discussion by pointing out that climate change causes more extreme weather in all seasons, including winter blizzards and unpredictable spring flooding. At least one person displayed a basic understanding of the issue, even if he didn't forcefully refute all the nonsense coming from others on the program.

There was no acknowledgement that climate change is a catastrophic problem, much less that there are specific industries most responsible for making it worse.

Well, that kind of pissed me off. I left this message on their blog and facebook page.

I was very disappointed to hear the meteorologists' irresponsible and misleading dodge on the climate change issue. It was false to claim that there's still a debate among scientists about whether the problem is man-made. The scientific community has reached a consensus. It's only the political world that distorts the issue. Claiming that the question is still unsettled adds to that distortion.
Additionally, suggesting that harsh winters in some areas somehow disprove climate change showed astonishing ignorance.

I understand that anyone who admits the scientific consensus of climate change will be attacked by angry conservatives who whine about liberal bias. But, someone in a public role has an obligation to inform, rather than pander to ignorance. Six Cook county residents have died in the latest heat wave, so far. Illinois crops are suffering drought. Flooding is destroying river communities. This issue has real life and death consequences. Meteorologists with a platform on television become part of the problem when they display the kind of ignorance and cowardice I saw on the program tonight. Honest discussions of climate change should be part of the weather report.

You can see what happens at any online news comment section. Any mention of climate change brings out the horde of conservative Fox/talk-radio listeners, repeating the latest talking points, ranting about Al Gore's socialist UN conspiracy, and whining about liberal bias. I'm sure they get similar phone calls and emails. Meteorologists are being bullied into silence in the same way that the right has bullied much of the press into self-censoring liberal viewpoints. The right has effectively silenced those who prefer to avoid controversy.

So, I can understand why a television weather anchor would rather keep people happy by not taking sides. The trouble is that, by pretending this is still an open question, they did take sides.

The strategy of the oil and coal industry is not to deny climate change. That's no longer a defensible position. Instead, their goal is that the science behind it be treated as an unsettled question. They simply want to cast doubt about whether a scientific consensus exists. So, when meteorologists describe the issue of humans contributing to climate change as an uncertainty, they're parroting the talking points of fossil fuel industry propagandists.

As another online commenter pointed out, the remarks on Chicago Tonight are even out of sync with the consensus of their own profession. The American Meteorological Society, along with 17 other scientific organizations, signed a letter addressed to the U.S. Senate which states:

Observations throughout the world make it clear that climate change is occurring, and rigorous scientific research demonstrates that the greenhouse gases emitted by human activities are the primary driver. These conclusions are based on multiple independent lines of evidence, and contrary assertions are inconsistent with an objective assessment of the vast body of peer-reviewed science.

This is an issue every television meteorologist must confront. As we face unprecedented heat waves, undeniable trends over the past two decades, more catastrophic storms, hurricanes and flooding: will they choose to ignore the elephant in the room?

They must accept that, for people in their position, there's no safe middle ground. Refusing to speak up about climate change makes them allies of the oil industry campaign to cast doubt on scientific realities and lulls the public into a complacency that delays action. And the costs of delay on this issue are deadly.