Illinois Poll Shows Strong Opposition to Fracking

Nearly half of Illinois voters oppose fracking, according to a new poll by the Simon Institute. The statewide poll reveals 48.6% oppose fracking while only 31.8% believe it should be encouraged, even if there are economic benefits. Opponents outnumber supporters an all regions of the state, including downstate where fracking is promoted as a jobs plan.

The numbers reinforce that fracking is one of the issues which cost Governor Pat Quinn support among Democrats and independents in his losing re-election campaign. Illinois Democratic voters overwhelmingly oppose fracking with 61.9% against and 19.7% in favor. Independents oppose it as well, with 48.3% against and 30.6% in support.

Any Illinois candidate looking for support from young voters should stand against fracking. A whopping 74% of 18-24 year-olds don't want it.

A solid 54% majority of Chicago residents are opposed. That's a bad sign for Rahm Emanuel who claims his aggregation deal is a clean energy victory, even though it powers Chicago with natural gas from the Marcellus shale fracking fields.

An election analysis released in January by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute identified low turnout among Democrats, and downstate opposition as reasons for Governor Pat Quinn losing re-election. During the campaign Quinn faced protests against his support for fracking, and as this poll shows, his position is unpopular among the Democratic base. With neither candidate for Governor taking a position against fracking, it left little reason for concerned voters to show up on election day.

There's no issue for which politicians and lobbyists in the statehouse bubble are more out of touch with Illinois voters than on fracking.

After a bill to regulate and launch fracking passed the Illinois legislature, industry lobbyists launched a campaign to portray opponents as a tiny fringe. Overwhelming public outcry against fracking at public hearings provided a reality check. A few accommodating statehouse green groups helped reinforced the false impression that regulation is a consensus middle ground. The Simon poll shows industry claims that fracking opposition is limited to a small group are outrageously false.

Some statehouse Democrats are still out of touch. Central Illinois Senator Dave Koehler recently introduced an amendment to the Illinois Clean Jobs bill that would allow some utilities to pay for converting coal plants to natural gas with a new fee charged to customers. The act creates a market-based carbon auction that may push coal plant operators to make minor upgrades or convert to natural gas. Koehler's amendment would help utilities to keep aging, polluting plants running at ratepayer expense rather than investing in new clean energy.

Most Illinois fracking is on hold, at least temporarily, due to low oil prices. Yet, the issue could play a roll in the 2016 election, particularly in Democratic primaries for U.S. Senate and Congress. Although some Democrats, like Pat Quinn and former Colorado Senator Mark Udall, have supported fracking regulation as a compromise middle crowd, it's a position that alienates voters on both sides of the issue while gaining support from no one but industry donors. Democratic candidates in a competitive primary would be smart to support a ban on fracking.

The poll question adopts a "jobs v. the environment" narrative which assumes fracking would benefit the economy. But, many residents oppose fracking because they don't believe another boom and bust extraction cycle will help the downstate economy. Most people don't want to locate their business or home in a community with poisoned water and air.

Low oil prices and public opposition provide an opportunity for downstate Illinois to build a healthy economy without the destructive impacts of fracking. As the poll shows, many voters are looking for leaders who offer more than empty assurances that regulation will make fracking safe or provide good jobs.

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.

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.

It Doesn't Pay to Be a Fossil-Fuel Democrat on Election Day

My new blog at Huffington Post. Cross-posted at Democrats for Progress and DailyKos.

This was a difficult election for Democrats and it was even worse for Democrats still pushing fossil fuels. The Democratic co-chair of the Congressional Coal Caucus lost his seat along with a slew of others who tried to prove they're as pro-coal, pro-oil, and pro-fracking as any Republican. 

There are plenty of examples like Grimes in Kentucky. Or Tennant and Nick Rahall in West Virginia who mimicked conservative talking points on coal in their losing races. Mary Landrieu is expected to lose in a Louisiana run-off. If you can't run on clean energy and climate change in a state that saw Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf oil disaster, then you're an incompetent politician. 

No state made the point more clearly than Illinois, where Democrats serious about climate won reelection while fossil-fuel Democrats lost. Governor Pat Quinn once bragged about passing a bill to launch fracking along with lead Senate sponsor Mike Frerichs. Quinn lost reelection after spending months avoiding the issue (and anti-fracking protesters).

Read the rest here and thanks for sharing.

All Illinois Democrats Have to Do for Re-Election Is...

My new blog at HuffPost. This may be the first Illinois election in years decided by downstate and the suburbs.

Quinn won 64.3% in Cook county, the same percentage he got in 2010. But with turnout down, he earned about 79,000 fewer votes out of Cook than last time. That's enough for a few Chicago-centric thinkers to claim, as they always do, that Cook county made the difference. But, even if Quinn had matched his 2010 turnout in Chicago, he still would have lost this election.

Also at Democrats for Progress and DailyKos.

Southern Illinois asks legislative committee to reject weak fracking rules

Yesterday Illinois was facing an environmental and economic crisis from fracking that was greenwashed by a Democratic Governor who told us regulation can make it safe. Voters were asked to choose between two pro-fracking candidates for Governor. Bruce Rauner won after many downstate voters decided they didn't like either choice and stayed home.

Illinois is now faced with an environmental crisis to be overseen by a Republican Governor who's unlikely to strictly enforce regulation. There's no more greenwashing fracking in Illinois. No politician can credibly claim they're protecting the environment with the weak law passed by the legislature. It's the state's top environmental threat.

The next politicians who may claim they can make fracking safe are legislators on JCAR. After delaying action until after election day, they're expected to vote on fracking rules Thursday. They must reject the rules to prevent poorly regulated fracking from moving forward under Bruce Rauner. Even strong rules would be meaningless if overseen by state regulatory agencies captured by industry. Passing the rules now, even with improvements requested by a few pro-fracking green groups in Chicago, would guarantee environmental disaster.

After JCAR rejects the rules, Pat Quinn has one last chance to fix his mistake by asking the legislature to pass a ban or moratorium on fracking during the upcoming veto session. It can still be done before Bruce Rauner takes office as Governor.

Southern Illinois grassroots environmental leaders sent the following letter asking JCAR to reject the rules.

November 4, 2014
Dear Members of the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules:

The undersigned Illinois residents urge this committee to reject the Proposed Rules for the Hydraulic Fracturing Regulatory Act. We have identified numerous procedural deficiencies in the rulemaking process for these proposed rules, each of which is serious enough to have tainted the whole process. This Committee has the authority to reject the Proposed Rules, and we respectfully request that you do so at your November 6, 2014 meeting.

We have identified the following violations of Illinois statutory law committed during the rulemaking period for HFRA:
• IDNR failed to publish a summary of the 135 page proposed rulemaking in the regulatory agenda. (5 ILCS 100/5-60).
• IDNR failed to give sufficient notice of public hearings throughout Illinois; one hearing even received zero notice in the Illinois Register. (5 ILCS 100/5-40)
• IDNR failed to make an agency representative available to answer questions at any of the public hearings held in Illinois. (5 ILCS 100/5-40)
• IDNR refused some citizens admittance to the Chicago hearing. (5 ILCS 100/5-40(b))
• IDNR did not allow some citizens to speak at the Ina (Rend Lake College) hearing. (5 ILCS 100/5-40(b))
• IDNR provided an inadequate opportunity for the public to address the factual basis for its rulemaking depriving members of the public of complete participation in the rulemaking process. (5 ILCS 100/5-60)
• IDNR prejudiced the public's opportunity to comment, by making patently false statements in its first notice. (5 ILCS 100/5-40)
• IDNR failed to comply with the requirement of HFRA section 1-97 by not submitting the required report to the General Assembly by February 1, 2014, thereby depriving citizens the opportunity to evaluate that report during the limited time for public input on rulemaking. (225 ILCS 732/1-97)
• IDNR’s Delay in Publishing the Transcripts of the Public Hearings Prejudiced the Public’s Ability to Evaluate IDNR’s Rulemaking (5 ILCS 100/5-35)

In total, the statutory violations described here have deprived the public of its rights under the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act, and when considered cumulatively, the violations also amount to a violation of IDNR’s rulemaking duties under HFRA.

The rulemaking process failed in its essential purpose; the proposed rulemaking violated mandatory statutory and administrative rulemaking procedures and prejudiced the public’s right and ability to participate in this important rulemaking. If JCAR finalizes these rules, then these rules will be incomplete, inadequate, and invalidly enacted to the detriment of Illinois residents who are landowners, mineral interest owners, and members of the communities where high-volume, horizontal hydraulic fracturing would occur.

The undersigned below also believe it is critical for this Committee to realize that at the present time, IDNR does not have an adequate budget nor staff to supervise high volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing under the HFRA or to monitor compliance with HFRA permits and HFRA.

We have been concentrating on the procedural deficiencies of the rulemaking, as described above, but we also have the following concerns about the health and environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing that have been recorded in scientific research: contamination of water supplies, displacement of wildlife, noise and light pollutions, earthquakes and seismic risks, silica dust hazards, low level radiation exposure, and increased burdens on infrastructure, especially in rural communities.

Now is the time for JCAR to acknowledge the procedural deficiencies of this important rulemaking in our State’s history and to do the right thing in the best interest of Illinois residents. Please deny approval of the proposed HRFA rules.

Respectfully,
1. /s/ Ms. Natalie M. Laczek
2. /s/ Ms. Penni S. Livingston
3. /s/ Mr. Vito Amastrangelo
4. /s/ Ms. Tabitha Tripp
5. /s/ Mr. Sam Stearns
6. /s/ Mr. Mark Donham
7. /s/ Mr. Nathan Czuba
8. /s/ Annette McMichaels on behalf
of Southerners Illinoisans Against Fracturing Our Environment SAFE

If you'd like to send your own message to members of JCAR by Wednesday morning you can find their contact information here.

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.

More "victories" in Illinois fracking law that are functionally useless

I'm looking at registration forms submitted to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources by companies that want to frack Illinois.

One company with a notorious environmental record was able to check the box saying it has no history of violations because the form only asks if they had a violation on fracking in the past five years. Have a violation for conventional oil & gas operations? No problem. You've only been operating in Texas where almost no one gets held accountable? No problem.

It's another part of the Illinois fracking law that sounds good but is basically worthless in practice. As a friend wrote; it would be like one of us having a regular driver's license, getting multiple DUIs and speeding tickets, and then deciding we wanted to get a CDL (commercial drivers license). Without having a search on our previous driving record, without having to take a new test, and only having to pay a license fee. Then if we got caught again, all we would have to do is change our name, and we could start with a clean slate all over again.

This reminds me of the Chicago-based green groups who negotiated the fracking law proudly bragging about the supposed victory they won allowing cities to ban it. Yet, the likely impacted areas are mostly rural counties where banning within city limits is no meaningful barrier to frackers. Countywide bans, which would have a meaningful impact, aren't allowed.

On another topic, the fracking registration forms say no permits will be issued until the rules are finally approved. A few groups who are focused on crafting better regulation made a campaign around getting Quinn to not issue fracking permits until the rules are final. Apparently, Quinn's IDNR never considered anything else. That campaign appears to have been a chew toy that kept groups occupied in a way that doesn't challenge Quinn or change the politics around fracking.

Governor Quinn Has Baghdad Bob Moment During Fracking Protest

My new blog about the pressure on Pat Quinn to end his support for fracking is up at Huffington Post.

Pat Quinn had his own Baghdad Bob moment during the Illinois State Fair when a reporter asked if the Democratic base is behind his campaign. He awkwardlysmiled and claimed "we have everybody with us," while a protest in the background forced him to speak up as they shouted, "Governor Quinn come on down, anti-frackers are in town!"
Quinn's support for fracking continues to be a problem with environmental voters, particularly downstate, as it undermines his claim to "stand with the people, not the powerful."

While you're at it, check out this letter from the Illinois fracking movement sent to the Director of the Sierra Club asking them to show they're serious about stopping fracking. It's unacceptable for them to remain silent while industry uses Sierra Club's support for regulation to greenwash fracking and attack the movement.

Fracking Industry Uses Tobacco Playbook to Defend Birth Defects

Bloomberg News reviews studies on the link between birth defects and living near fracking sites. It's compelling. Multiple studies show increased rates of congenital heart defects, low birth weight, and stillbirths.

A spokesperson for the fracking industry propaganda outfit, Energy in Depth, responded.

“The body of scientific knowledge has to advance gradually and you have to look at all of these things and the full spectrum. You can’t just look at this one individual or this group of studies.”

How many studies do we need? How long will it take?

"We also believe that until scientific research can establish what actually causes the diseases with which smoking has been statistically associated, it would be unfair to advocate any law prohibiting the sale of cigarettes"

That's what the tobacco industry was still arguing in 1987, many years after the link between cigarettes and multiple deadly health problems was clear.

To use another example, the fossil fuel industry continues to cast doubt on the scientific evidence behind climate change almost three decades after James Hansen first testified on the problem to Congress. There will never be enough conclusive evidence for those who profit from human suffering.

This is the fundamental flaw with how we regulate public health and safety in the United States. Some nations use the precautionary principle that puts burden on polluters to show they can operate without harming the public. In the United States we use that approach for prescription medication but not with polluting industries.

Several studies focus on the impacts of air emissions from fracking sites. Clearly, they aren't well regulated at the federal level. In Illinois, the fracking law doesn't address air emissions from well sites. Governor Pat Quinn and the legislature have decided that Illinoisans should be forced to participate in a potentially deadly science experiment while we wait for conclusive proof that people living nearby are harmed.

If you want to understand how environmental justice principles apply to low-income, rural extraction regions, this is a good example. The Illinois fracking law was negotiated in closed door sessions between industry lobbyists and representatives of a few environmental groups headquartered in Chicago, hundreds of miles away from any expected well sites. They got a seat at the table by showing they're willing to compromise over the objection of environmentalists in impacted areas.

The big green group staffers who negotiated the fatally flawed Illinois fracking law won't have to live anywhere near air emissions from wells. But some of us will. That's why the movement to stop fracking in Illinois continues to push on.

How Much Fracking Will Remain Unregulated in Illinois?

My latest Huffington Post blog covers the latest actions against fracking and a loophole oil frackers plan to exploit to avoid most regulation.

It's also at Democrats for Progress and DailyKos. And the "For Sale" picture is on tumblr.

Opposition continues as people learn more about the inadequacy of a law that was written behind closed doors and rushed through the legislature with very little public scrutiny. A recent day of action saw citizens in Chicago and southern Illinois bring accountability to those responsible for the dangerously weak fracking law.

"For sale" signs were placed at the campaign office of state representative Mike Bost, who co-sponsored the law while claiming it would "keep our air clean, protect our water supply and maintain our environment." In fact, the law contains no provisions to limit toxic air emissions that harm the health of those living nearby.

An Environmental Justice Agenda from Illinois Coal & Fracking Fighters

My new HuffingtonPost piece features a new call to action on the Illinois fracking and coal extraction crisis. I wrote a bit about why we have to think about extraction in rural Illinois as an environmental justice issue.

There's an old political tradition in Illinois of politicians pandering to environmentalists in Chicago and to the coal industry downstate. Convicted ex-Governor Rod Blagojevich mastered the game by heavily subsidizing coal while keeping environmental groups pacified with new air quality laws, efficiency standards, and support for renewable energy. Subsidies to promote fossil fuels as an economic development tool keep rural Illinois focused on short-term, destructive jobs while most green job creation happens in the northern half of the state.
The old game is changing as people in coal and fracking regions are demanding better protections of their health, land, and water. 

I wrote more at HuffPo, but here's the full letter signed by 21 grassroots groups working on the front lines of the Illinois extraction crisis.

Illinois Must Act to Stop Extraction Crisis
Illinois is facing an unprecedented environmental, social and economic crisis. The anticipated launch of industrialized fracking combined with resurgence in coal mining present a double threat to the people, land, water, and long term economic health of southern and central Illinois.

Illinois coal mining has increased 70% in Illinois since 2010 thanks to an increase in coal exports, widespread use of scrubbers to accommodate high sulfur coal, and the reduction of mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia. At the same time, it has become increasingly clear that Illinois' weak fracking law will not adequately protect the public. Leading climate scientists have warned we must leave much of the world's remaining fossil fuel resources in the ground to avoid additional catastrophic consequences of climate change, such as record drought and flooding. The acceleration of fossil fuel extraction in Illinois exacerbates both a local and global crisis. State government must act:

Ban Fracking
Southern and central Illinois must not become a sacrifice zone to a dirty energy policy that will contribute significantly to climate change. Volume limits and other loop-holes will result in an unknown number of wells being exempt from regulation. Even if every provision of the current fracking law is enforced, people and the environment will not be adequately protected. Fracking must be banned.

Create a New Energy Economy in Coal Country
Coal country needs a bailout. Most clean energy jobs are being created in the northern half of Illinois, leaving the rest of the state behind. Downstate deserves more than dangerous, temporary fracking jobs, and empty promises about reviving the coal industry. Establish a coalfields regeneration fund to build a new energy economy targeted to areas left in poverty by boom and bust extraction cycles. We want a future with clean energy jobs like those being created in Iowa and California; not a future as an impoverished sacrifice zone like West Virginia or Wyoming coalfields.

Overhaul Regulatory Agencies
Years of lax enforcement, waived penalties, few inspectors, and recent staff scandals have undermined confidence that the Department of Natural Resources or Illinois EPA can effectively regulate mining and industrialized fracking. Additional funding to hire new staff will not change the institutional culture of agencies that have been unwilling to adequately protect public health. DNR and IEPA must be dramatically reformed or responsibility handed over to federal oversight.

End Fossil Fuel Subsidies and Coal Export Expansion
A report by Downstream Strategies found that the the coal industry costs the Illinois state budget roughly $20 million annually. Illinois must stop subsidizing a devastating industry that will never again provide the jobs it once did. Everyone loses when Illinois promotes coal exports to foreign nations with weak pollution laws. People in developing countries will suffer increased rates of lung disease, heart disease, birth defects, and other health impacts. Illinois suffers the consequences of poorly regulated coal mining. The global community will suffer the impact of climate change. Illinois must end its policy of subsidizing coal through state grants and expanding export infrastructure.

Signed: Buckminster Fuller Future Organization, Canton Area Citizens for Environmental Issues, Citizens Against Longwall Mining, Citizens Act to Protect Our Water (CAPOW!), Eco-Justice Collaborative, Friends of Bell Smith Springs, Gaia House Interfaith Center, Heartwood Forest Alliance, Indiana Forest Alliance, Justice for Rocky Branch, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, Nuclear Energy Information Service, S.E.N.S.E. (SIUC Students), Regional Association of Concerned Environmentalists (RACE), Rising Tide Chicago, Shawnee Hills and Hollers, Southeast Environmental Task Force, Southern Illinoisans Against Fracturing our Environment (SAFE), Students for Environmental Concerns (UIUC Students), Sustainable Springfield Inc, Tar Sands Free Midwest

Illinois Coal Campaign Cash Scandal Reveals Culture of Corruption

The Chris Cline coal campaign contribution scandal has grown bigger than I ever expected. CoalGate is getting wide press coverage and resulted in a second acting director of Mines & Minerals being removed for the same actions as Tony Mayville. Here's a rundown of the press coverage and expanding consequences since I first wrote about a former mine regulator taking campaign contributions from a coal industry billionaire.

Patrick Yeagle at Illinois Times was the first reporter to give the story the full journalism treatment. IT reported that Tony Mayville was placed on unpaid leave and an investigation is underway.

Jim Tenuto, spokesman for the Illinois State Board of Elections, says a state law on official misconduct may make the contributions a criminal act, though that’s up to a state’s attorney or the attorney general to decide. Under the state law, if Mayville solicited the contributions, it would be a class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in prison and a $2,500 fine.
Chris McCloud, spokesman for DNR, said the contributions to the committee controlled by Mayville came to light when Mayville sought permission from DNR director Marc Miller to run for elected office. 

The trouble is that Mayville was already taking contributions from the coal industry to his Washington County Democratic political fund when he was made acting director of the Office of Mines & Minerals in 2012. It was public information easily accessible by a simple web search. It was no secret that Mayville was chair of a county political party. Did no one bother checking at the time or did no one care? Or both.

WSIL TV news interviewed Mayville for their story. He tried to keep the focus on a contribution to his State Representative campaign fund instead of the additional contributions he was taking to his political party fund since 2008.


His defense says it all. He argues that the contributions are no big deal because the company representative is a good friend he used to work with anyway. Think about that for a minute. The guy who was in charge of mine safety for Illinois, and the entire Mines & Minerals Office for a time, is saying that campaign contributions from the industry he regulates can't influence him because he's already such good buddies with industry officials. He actually argued that!

That shows exactly the problem I set out to highlight. There's a cozy good ol' boy network among DNR regulatory staff and their friends and former co-workers in the industries they regulate. A top Illinois regulator just said so!

In case it wasn't obvious enough that this is part of a broader problem within the agency, the current acting director of Mines & Minerals was jut caught doing the exact same thing. I first read at Capitol Fax, and then the News-Gazette that Douglas County Democratic Party Chairman Michael Woods Sr. was removed from his position for accepting political contributions from Foresight Energy, a company owned by the Cline Group.

Within a few days of Foresight's $10,000 donation to the Douglas County Democrats, officials disbursed much of it to Democratic candidates and other party organizations outside of Douglas County.
The largest sum — $5,000 — went to Gov. Pat Quinn's re-election campaign. Another $1,200 went to the Illinois Democratic County Chairmen's Association. And $250 went to the campaign fund of state Sen. Mike Frerichs, D-Champaign.
The Douglas County Democrats also gave $1,000 to the campaign fund of Tony Mayville, a Democratic candidate for the Illinois House in the 115th District in southern Illinois. 

Douglas county Democrats had a sleepy little campaign fund until Wood got his promotion at IDNR. Then, what do you know, Foresight Energy gave them a $10,000 political contribution. It's a pattern.

Chris Cline is not an insignificant donor. He massively expanded his Illinois coal holdings in recent years to make him one of the top energy players in the state. His companies have had many issues pending before DNR and will have many more. He's making ginormous contributions through multiple subsidiaries to Illinois politicians. Billionaire Chris Cline is attempting to purchase control of the state's political and regulatory systems.

An excellent video about a recent hearing on a Cline mine near Hillsboro reveals the dysfunction of the current system.



Pat Quinn and Mike Frerichs donated the campaign funds they received from the Douglas County Democrats to charity. But, they're keeping hundreds of thousands they've taken directly from Chris Cline and his coal empire. It's a nice attempt to avoid controversy, but keeping their other Cline donations sends the message that they're still available for purchase.

It would be a disservice if Governor Quinn is allowed to deflect attention from this scandal after two personnel changes at IDNR. This is a systemic problem about the culture of a crucial regulatory agency full of political hires leftover from the Blagojevich administration. People deserve to know whether Chris Cline companies were regulated to the full extent of the law in both the permitting process and with mine safety. Fatal mine accidents and cancer-causing pollutants make this literally a life and death issue.

Pat Quinn Gets Fracking Valentine

Cupid delivered a Valentine's Day message about fracking to Governor Pat Quinn.

Rising Tide Chicago posted video and pictures of Cupid's visit to Quinn's office with the message that the relationship between fracking and Illinois is a "bad romance."

It partly reads, "The Hydraulic Fracturing Regulatory Act and the recent rules released by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources are not based on scientific studies on hydraulic fracturing. They act to protect the profits and interests of industry, not Illinois citizens. Clean air & water and a safe climate are human rights. Hydraulic fracturing threatens these basic rights and no regulations will really protect us."

Rising Tide also posted photos of a message to Pat Quinn along the Dan Ryan Expressway last Monday.

There's a fun video of that action too. It was done in conjunction with a call-in day that united the voice of the environmental movement in Chicago and southern Illinois by asking Governor Quinn to ban fracking. It's strongly encouraging to the environmental movement in southern Illinois to see a group represent their views in Chicago.

Illinois Mine Safety Head Took Thousands in Campaign Contributions from Coal Baron Chris Cline

My latest piece is at EcoNews. This is an outrageous scandal that I hope will be picked up by major news outlets. I was at public hearings on Illinois coal mines without knowing that the companies asking for permits had given political contributions to a top IDNR official. And this is the agency Governor Quinn trusts to making fracking safe?

Illinois Mine Safety Head Took Thousands in Campaign Contributions from Coal Baron Chris Cline

Washington County Democratic Party. He has also supervised the Mine Safety division and served as acting director of Mines and Minerals at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Over several years, including time while Mayville was responsible for regulating Illinois coal mines, he collected thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from companies owned by billionaire coal mine operator Chris Cline. In November 2013 a fatal accident occurred at a coal mine owned by Chris Cline and regulated by Tony Mayville. 

Mayville chairs the political fund of the Washington County Democratic Party Central Committee. Their campaign finance reports show the committee raising thousands of dollars from multiple companies owned by the Cline Group at least since 2008 through 2013.

Disturbing Video Shows Why Illinois Regulation Won't Make Fracking Safe

A disturbing new video of poisoned water, leaking oil rigs, and lax enforcement at Illinois oil wells highlights why proposed fracking regulation won't protect the state's environment or people. The Greenpeace interview with a southern Illinois native and former oil worker shows a fracking test well in a neglected part of the state where weak enforcement at existing wells is already endangering the public.



Illinois' new fracking law provides funding for the Office of Mines and Minerals to hire new staff. But, that would only be a solution if lack of staffing were the primary problem. Governor Pat Quinn has refused to clean house and restructure an agency notoriously cozy with industry.

The rules proposed for fracking are a sign the agency intends to continue the same old culture of weak enforcement that allows companies to pay meaningless fines while continuing to operate. Proposed fines from $50 to a few thousand dollars are pocket change, and even those can be waived at the agency's discretion. Companies with hundreds of past violations may receive permits for new wells, as we've already seen with OMM's poor oversight of coal mines.

Many local residents understand something that groups headquartered hundreds of miles away who support the fracking law apparently don't. Even if the new law does everything it's designed to do, a fracking boom will still be a major environmental and public health disaster for downstate Illinois. A better funded Office of Mines and Minerals still can't be relied on to protect Illinois with only weak penalties and an internal culture that views themselves as partners with industry.

Governor Quinn failed to mention fracking when he listed accomplishments during his State of the State speech today. Just last year he pushed hard for the law and bragged about it's passage. Seven months later, it's a political liability he'd rather ignore. Efforts by the movement to ban fracking, including the MoveOn Fracking Fighter petition, are shifting political realities. And people in potentially impacted areas aren't interested in settling for whatever minor, face-saving improvements to the regulations Governor Quinn has in the works.

Favorite Comments from the Petition to Ban Fracking in Illinois

The MoveOn.org Fracking Fighter petition to ban fracking in Illinois got off to a fast start! It's just shy of the first 500 signatures. The comments people add are fun to read so here are some of my favorites, with each signer's town instead of their name because internet trolls.

Fracking will not help our local economy. Don't believe the lies. Ban fracking everywhere. Don't believe me. Ask every small town in Pennsylvania that has allowed fracking. Ask anyone who has ever lit there tap water on fire. Ban fracking! - Glen Carbon, IL

Allowing fracking may create new jobs in the short run, but in the long run fracking will cost health and lives and lots of money to clean up after the fracking company goes bankrupt. Protect Illinois citizens by not allowing fracking in Illinois. -Carbondale, IL

Yep. The fracking boom won't last but the economic destruction will linger once water is poisoned and rural areas are industrialized. A number of comments focus on the reality of an extraction-based economy.

Fracking is detrimental to people, the planet's vital biodiversity, and the economy. Please reconsider doing huge environmental damage and instead invest money into actual renewable energy such as solar and wind that pays off in the long run. - Skokie, IL

Fracking poses too great a threat to public health to be allowed in Southern Illinois. Please protect our drinking water and other natural resources by banning the destructive practice of hydraulic fracturing in Illinois. Our need for clean ground water far outweighs our need for industrial jobs or cheap gas, regardless of what uninformed people may say. Don't allow yourselves to be tempted by the promise of big money by the oil and gas industry. Rest assured that the privatized profits from fracking can never equal the public's costs. We are depending on you to represent us. Please don't betray our trust. You have the power to protect the Earth for future generations. Use that power to preserve our most precious resources. We can live without money. We can live without gas and oil. We cannot live without clean water. - Makanda, IL

Governor Quinn, I beg you to outlaw fracking in Illinois. The evidence is overwhelming that it pollutes the groundwater, which is one of our most valuable resources. Please, sir -- you've always forged your own path; please keep doing so by banning fracking. Thank you. - Springfield, IL

"A region’s economic and environmental strength is based on the availability of clean water."
- Pat Quinn

 Woops! How did that get there? Governor Quinn didn't sign the petition but that's a real quote from the dedication of a wastewater treatment plant. Do you think he sees the contradiction between his words and his push to launch fracking in Illinois?

I like to drink water. safe water. so leave it alone. - Harrisburg, IL

The current legislation and its interpretation and enforcement will do little to actually PREVENT the contamination of MY water and the water of most of rural Illinoisians. For the life of me, i do not understand the selling our or rural agriculture to the extractive corporations that seem intent on destroying it. By unleashing wide-scale fracking upon us, our elected officials have failed as guardians of the people. Why have our officials not gone to Pennsylvania or Colorado or North Dakota to see for themselves. Why have they not spoken with the people adversely affected? They have had the opportunity. Why, is intent on bringing a so called "safe" industry, have they not set up small scale pilot projects that could be monitored and reported on transparently? I fear the answer is... they really don't want to know. - Taylorville, IL

I like how many signatures are from small towns that are supposedly too conservative to be against fracking.

Our legislators need to stop allowing industries to destroy Illinois and put all of Illinois citizens at risk to pollution and destruction. Where are your brains? Get your hands out of the corporations' pockets and serve the people that you were elected to serve and not your corporate campaign contributors. - Canton, IL

I am expecting my first child this summer and rely on well water, I want to be certain it will stay safe for my little one. - Pamona, IL

 There is no such thing as safe fracking. Governor Quinn, ban it from our state immediately! - Goreville, IL

It is completely ridiculous that we have no voice in this, no representation from the areas that will actually be fracked. BAN IT. - Carbondale, IL

I grew up in Illinois and want to retire there. I hope to return to a environmentally sound place. Ban all fracking. It's not wise to mess with the water table. - Oswego, NY

What? Doesn't everyone want to open a business or retire somewhere with poisoned water an noxious fumes making them sick?

It's bad enough there's a new proposed room and pillar mine in East Central Illinois that state reps don't seem to care about. Add fracking into the mix in other parts of the state, and watch as our precious farmland and resources such as water (fracking uses LOTS of water) are wasted. There's nothing safe about fracking, and nothing good will come to Illinois because of it. - Homer, IL

As a West Virginian experiencing first hand the devastating impacts of fracking and the recent spill of MCHM ( also a fracking chemical), Illinios would do well to ban fracking and look to Pennsylvania and WV as cautionary tales. Salem, WV

The only truly protective fracking regulation is a ban. - Mossville, IL

The regulations are absurdly and irresponsibly mediocre. The people of Southern Illinois are insulted. - Carbondale, IL

I am a high school student and did a research paper on fracking, It does not sound good for any place. Most of all a state that is covered in 700 million acres of FARMLAND! This is my future home, please stop poisoning it. Invest in Green Enegry! - Crest Hill, IL

Fracking uses millions of gallons of fresh water, permanently poisons it, leaves some underground while the rest must be dumped somewhere, opens unknown cracks in the earth for chemicals to seep unseen into groundwater, releases radioactivity from underground, and causes earthquakes. Is that enough reason? Oh yeah, and it uses enormous quantities of energy to do so, burning much more fuel than would possibly be recovered. What a fiasco! - Chicago, IL

We need very urgently to move away from fossil fuels and the greenhouse gases they produce, not find more environmentally destructive ways to extract them. We need to protect what remains of our natural heritage, not hand it over to an industry that already has far too much money and influence. - Glenwood, IL

And my favorite of them all gets right to the point:

Don't be a douche bag!! - Galesburg, IL

You can sign and share the petition here, with or without a comment.

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!

Illinois Geological Survey Called Out and Hillbilly Resistance to Fracking

The comment period for Illinois' draft fracking regulation is over but there's more must-see video and text from the public hearings I haven't posted yet. 

Brent Ritzel is in one of the videos on my last Huffington Post blog. He ran out of time before finishing his full comment so I asked him to send me his notes which are posted below.

The Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and the Illinois State Geological Survey have long seen promoting extraction industries as part of their mission. ISGS is involved in carbon sequestration projects to show it's viable. Just to be clear, they're not engaging in unbiased research to determine whether or not carbon capture and sequestration for coal plants is economically realistic and safe for the public. They're granted funding to work with corporate partners on projects with the predetermined outcome to show it's viable. That part of their work is why they participated in public hearings over the failed coal carbon capture and sequestration plant proposed in Taylorville.

Now, they're taking the same approach with fracking by giving industry talking points the credibility of a state agency the public would expect to be unbiased. Brent does a good job of holding ISGS accountable for misleading the public. He references his study "Fracking Industrialization & Induced Earthquakes" that you can read here. Here's his comment to IDNR:

Thank you very much for your time. I do NOT envy y’all. You have been given the impossible task of regulating a technology that has already been exempted from 7 different major and essential environmental and public health protection laws…
Clean Water Act,
Safe Drinking Water Act,
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act,
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act
National Environmental Policy Act
Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act.
The Superfund Law

Fracking was obviously never really supposed to be regulated, but it seems to me that if you were tasked with such a project, the FIRST STEP would be put all those protections back in that the Halliburton Loophole removed.

A couple of weeks ago completed a research study entitled “Fracking Industrialization and Induced Earthquakes,” which took a comprehensive look at more than fifty years of studies regarding the known connection between disposal of wastewater in deep-injection wells and induced earthquakes.

What propelled me into researching and writing “Fracking Industrialization and Induced Earthquakes” was my attendance at the July 18, 2013 Fracking Conference at Rend Lake College, which was sponsored by Illinois DCEO, and witnessing a presentation by Robert Bauer of the Illinois State Geological Survey. For the event the presentation had the straightforward title “Hydraulic Fracturing, Horizontal Wells & Unconventional Oil/Gas Resources,” however in its YouTube treatment it was given the title “Are Environmentalists’s [sic] Concerns Over Fracking Valid?”

Now instead of addressing the real and substantive concern of damaging wastewater induced earthquakes as large as magnitude 5.7, Bauer tells the audience that fracking process does not induce felt earthquakes.
Bauer Completely avoided the fact that Fracking Wastewater Disposal has led to 6 to 9-fold increase in felt earthquakes in Midcontinent region,
WHILE mocking any concern over earthquakes as fracking only creates earthquakes that are the equivalent to the force of an apple hitting the ground from a 3-foot drop.

In reality, what seismologists and geophysicists have learned is the following…
Midcontinent 3.0+ earthquakes:
            1970-2000:             21 /yr
            2001-2008:             29 /yr
            2009:                      50
            2010:                      87
            2011:                      134-188

But they’ve known about this phenomena, and the mechanisms underlying it, since 1966…
Another one of Bauer’s Slides Reads: “Induced Seismicity Potential in Energy Technologies - National Research Council report 2012: Current process of hydraulic fracturing a well does not pose a high risk for inducing FELT seismic events…”
Bauer got this quote from page 85 of the 265 page report. Just three pages later, starting on page 88, is an in-depth analysis of felt earthquakes induced by fracking wastewater disposal in injection wells.

The problem here, once again, is that we have Government pretending right along with industry that there is not a single negative consequence of fracking industrialization…
What are we supposed to do when our government misinforms us, misleads us, so that we are less equipped to protect ourselves from obvious risks to public health and safety?

The level of mass industrialization of rural American due to fracking is truly unprecedented in American history. Regulating fracking is an absurd notion, and that has been demonstrated by the practice of other states, due to both staffing issues and the lethargic enforcement activity of states. While Texas had over 13,000 wells drilled in 2012, oil & gas companies were caught in 55,000 violations of state fracking laws, with only 2% of those violations actually being enforced.

The only way extraction industries exist at all is by leveraging risk. Corporations much prefer leveraging the risk of others, rather than taking that risk on themselves. That is standard operating procedure for extraction companies like oil & gas, because their real and actual costs of doing business is always far greater than any revenues that can be generated from such activities.
EXAMPLE OF COAL:
            Harvard Medical School Study
            State of Illinois’s deal with coal

However, they are open for business if they can find someone to take on that risk for them. This is where the government comes in and provides them with the perfect solution: we won’t make you clean up after yourselves, and you pass those exorbitant costs onto the unsuspecting public in the form of degradation of their environment and compromising their personal health.

We are not just merely the collateral damage of the toxin-laden extraction processes of fossil fuel industries, we are THE COLLATERAL ITSELF that allows this transaction to take place between the state and the industry.
We are human bargaining chips, and our value to the industry is in our declining health, our increasing hospital bills, our rising insurance premiums, and of funerals for the most vulnerable among us. As long as the oil & gas industry does not have to clean up after itself, those are the costs that we, THE PEOPLE, will be paying.

The strongest regulations would result in none of us dying from fracking, and the only way to achieve that end is to ban fracking, which is not only the only rational choice to make, but it is also the only constitutional and moral choice to make. Let us never forget that Article XI of the Illinois Constitution guarantees our “right to a healthful environment for the benefit of this and future generations.” That would make fracking an epic fail.

The video of Brent posted by Christopher Oliver:





I don't have video of Tabitha Tripp at the hearing but her inspiring comment is essential reading if you weren't there.

I live another 45 minutes south of here. When I took the time to drive all the way to Springfield last spring, to talk to legislators (who were always too busy to make time to talk,) it was a long trip and I am dedicated to protecting our communities.

I have been in this campaign to stop fracking for 22 months working with SAFE, IPA, Heartwood Forest Council, Vineyard Indian Settlement, RACE and the Shawnee Chapter of the IL Sierra Club.

You have seen me at each one of the hearings. Why? Because it is that important to us down here. It’s not enough to get a news report- we want to know exactly what happened.

Activist Don West says, “The abuse of the land has always gone hand in hand with the abuse of the people, It’s easy to take and frack or mine someone’s land if we have convinced the world- through news--that it’s inhabitants are disposable, poor white trash or in essence a Bunch of hillbillies”

I am native of southern Illinois, I am a graduate of SIU. I am a mother and a poet and we live on a 5th generation family farm with a deep well for water. I live in the boonies and often I don’t even have internet.
But that does not make us expendable to Oil and Gas industry. I might be a hillbilly, but I am proud of it.

It does not make us any less significant. This department and the state have done exactly that- deemed us disposable.

Sacrifice Zones have been determined throughout Southern IL as economically depressed and in need of stimulation via fracked wells and hydrocarbon extraction. Leaving us with ruined water, worthless land and health effects as far as the eye can see into the future, we will be no better off than when we started extraction technology 200+ years ago.

Not the stimulation my children were hoping for!

Officials and agencies entrusted to protect public health and the environment, have gutted laws and created industry loopholes. You’ve sold us out, just like our legislators did.

These rules do NOTHING to uphold the already lax safety guarantees set forth in Public Act 98-0022. That LAW states Section 1-75.2 All phases of HVHF shall be conducted in a manner that shall not pose a significant risk to public health, life, property, aquatic life or wildlife. There is NO part of regulation that will successfully allow safe fracking.

At the very least- if I am going to be reading the rules again, comparing them to the law passed in May and then substantiating my comments to prove the incompetency of these rules during this joyous holiday season, then the least I could do is bring you a partial list of scientific research as a my gift to you.
This compilation of papers includes:
-Radioactivity in Shale Deposits
USGS maps 100 year flood plain and Liquefaction maps due to Earthquakes
Several research papers on Fracking induced Seismicity
OSHA regulations on Exposure to Silica Dust and Toxic Chemicals
American Journal of Nursing Research on Fracking and Public Health
Research on Waterless Fracking
Peer Reviewed Publication Research on Air Quality near Fracking operations
FWW: The New Global Water Crisis and water demands and Climate Change scenarios
NRDC’s research on disposal of radioactive liquified oil field waste

By light of the yule log, I will be reading the ACLU guide on civil liberties to my children, because I am pretty sure at this point, the only way to maintain our right to a healthy environment, Article XI of the Illinois constitution, will be to defend those rights by force against our government and the corporations who have hijacked our democracy.

Quoting Don West: “In a hungry world the struggle between oppressor and oppressed is unending. The inevitable question “which side are you on?” To be content with things as they are, to be “neutral” is to take side with the oppressor who wants to keep status quo. To challenge the power of the oppression is the poet’s responsibility. Such action will preserve and build faith and hope in humanity. Nothing-NOTHING raises the spirit of the people more.”

Both comments show they understand the political dynamics of Illinois that causes them to be viewed as expendable people and collateral damage. Their own state legislators are taking six figures in campaign contributions from the industry and their actions reflect it. Too many Chicago legislators who normally protect the environment find it easy to shrug their shoulders and accept a little more damage to southern Illinois because the region has always suffered the consequences of energy consumption. Hillbillies are easy subjects for compromise.

But, the dynamics are rapidly changing. Too many people are drawing a line against fracking.

The Statehouse Bubble Bursts: Illinois Revolts Against Fracking

I have a new piece at Huffington Post about the incredible public response at the fracking hearings. It includes must see video from the Carbondale, Decatur and Effingham hearings.

The Chicago hearing had a raucous crowd, but the two southernmost hearings took a more ardent tone. In Carbondale and Ina, calls for nonviolent civil disobedience to resist fracking outnumbered those who merely asked for better rules to make it safe.

The defiant tone reached a crescendo with a fired up crowd of over 200 at the final hearing in Carbondale. Politicians and interested businessmen who believe fracking in Illinois is "inevitable" should watch video of the Carbondale hearing for a reality check about the stiff opposition they'll face.

Please share! You have one last day to submit comments on the proposed regulation to IDNR before the January 3 deadline.