Fracking Companies Try to Pull a Fast One In Illinois

After an organized movement of anti-fracking advocates united to oppose the first fracking proposal in Illinois last year, the fracking company abandoned its venture proving, once again, that people power wins campaigns. However, in order to fully protect Illinois communities from the ambitions of the fracking industry, we need to ban the practice altogether.

Here’s Their Sneaky Plan

Despite losing the fight over the first formal fracking proposal, the dirty energy industry has infiltrated the state.

Thanks to a hidden loophole, the industry is taking a roundabout road to get what they want. It turns out, though Illinois has yet to house any high-volume fracking ventures, “low-volume” fracking is occurring in the state.

But “low-volume” is an intentionally deceptive term.

Low-volume fracking, as the law states in Illinois, is anything less than 80,000 gallons of fluid per phase, or less than 300,000 gallons overall.

So when a company, SM Energy, went in to drill and fracture a well in Wayne County in 2013, it was considered a low-volume venture despite requiring 162,900 gallons of water, sand and chemicals in several phases.

To make matters worse, two of the chemicals used were xylene and ethylbenzene, which are volatile organic chemicals, and extremely dangerous for surrounding communities.

If The Dirty Industry Energy Wins, They Can Take Your Land

These toxic chemicals shouldn’t be allowed near our water or our communities, but if the oil & gas industry gets its way, we won’t have a choice.

Opaque regulations allow companies to force landowners into drilling contracts against their will.

In a practice called Forced Pooling, companies can force landowners to submit to drilling if more than 50% of their neighbors have agreed to lease. Advocates for stronger property rights hope to strip away this allowance by forcing companies to work exclusively with individuals who would willingly sign leases.

Together, We Can Stop This -- If We Act Soon

We’re looking at hundreds of thousands of gallons of water waste, toxic chemical pollution, and landowner rights violations.

In the end, we know that fracking is dangerous, unjust, and unfit for The Prairie State. We need to amp up our efforts to stop it once and for all.

That’s why we’re back, pushing for a statewide fracking ban.

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Led by State Representatives Scott Drury, and Will Guzzardi, and Senator Dave Koehler, we plan to hit the ground running this session and make sure the dangerous practice of fracking, in any capacity, is kept out of Illinois for good.