Fracking Illinois

Recently Governor Pat Quinn declared that "Hydraulic Fracturing is coming to Illinois with the strongest environmental regulations in the nation… Its about jobs and about ensuring that our natural resources are protected for future generations". 

Hydraulic Fracturing of rock for natural gas and oil is an old concept, but more recently natural gas companies made a 'technological breakthrough' and turned the drill shaft sideways after a certain depth is reached which allows for the extraction of previously unreachable gas underneath shale rock formations. If you are new to the concept of 'Fracking', after this is done a cocktail of chemicals is mixed with water and shot into the rock at extremely high pressures to release the gas. The gas is then brought to the surface and used to heat homes, fire stoves and provide electricity. 

Presently natural gas makes up roughly 20% of the United States energy resources, and is expanding. From 2006 to 2011 Natural Gas grew from 19 quadrillion 'British Thermal Units' to 23.608 quadrillion Btu. If it helps your mental image, after some bizarre conversion calculations with my engineering major brother, a single pea from your garden contains roughly 8 Btu; in 2006 we produced some 2.4 quadrillion peas and by 2011 we had produced 3 quadrillion. That's a lot of peas (gas). In 2011 the value of this gas (potential peas) was $36 billion which is about 1.9 times the most recently announced NASA budget. 

Apart from producing loads of energy and creating wealth, natural gas fired electrical plants generate half the carbon dioxide of coal power plants. And as the industry moves to Southern Illinois it will bring jobs and money into previously deprived communities. According to 'America's Natural Gas Alliance' three indirectly related jobs are created for every one directly related natural gas job. 

These socio-economic benefits are fantastic. People will be able to acquire well paying jobs, land prices will skyrocket throughout the rural portions of our state, and communities will be strengthened in their abilities to give back to their citizens. However these real benefits come at great cost to our health and the environment.

The President of the Natural Resources Defense Council, Frances Beinecke ensured that the committee that oversaw the creation of the recently passed 'Fracking Act' (HB 2615) had members outwith our state government and the natural gas industry for a reason. Fracking is not safe, a fact that has at times been completely denied by the industry behind it, and one that is not understood by career politicians. 

The main problems associated with and caused by hydraulic fracturing are the release of radioactive material contained within shale rock and the chemical contamination of groundwater (what we drink, wash, and bathe in) from the leakage and seepage of fracking fluid into groundwater and wells. 

Beinecke stated that "the resulting…bill is not the comprehensive sufficient safeguards we've been calling for and won't make fracking 'safe' ". 

Indeed, it appears that the bill does not impose the strict regulations necessary to make fracking safe. Instead, the bill provides for more transparent means for citizens to hold fracking companies accountable after damage has been done (though it does hold them responsible to uphold the precautionary principle). Many of the chemicals used in the process are ones that produce latent predicaments such as higher incidences of asthma and cancer and developmental defects in children. Because residual and used fluid can leak into the water we use the most (does anyone bathe in Evian?) it can, over time, or very rapidly affect our bodies. In Colorado throughout the past 1000 incidences of equipment failure on sites where fracking takes place, 17-43% have resulted in groundwater contamination. This contamination, presently, is virtually impossible to clean up. 

Economically as well, the fracking industry is merely looking at short term benefits. Boom towns will pop up and then slowly turn to dusty ghost towns in a matter of years as cleaner energy is created and resources disappear. Jobs will be created and income generated for a time, but no progress will be made on improving an area (probably) in the long term. Reliance on the depletion of a non-renewable resource in order to increase job numbers for the real benefit of people is laughable unless the money is utilized in a proper way to simultaneously deliver substantial infrastructure and other community building improvements. So far this has been done in very few places.  

On top of this cost/benefit debacle looms our changing climate. What a natural gas powered Illinois decreases in Carbon Dioxide emissions, it makes up for in those resulting from another potent greenhouse gas, Methane. If we can instead focus our efforts to create 'alternative' energy on wind, solar, hydro, and perhaps efficient nuclear energy, should we not concentrate on that instead of an 'easy way out' through fracking?  

I'm currently visiting Lancashire in the United Kingdom. In this county, in 2011, experimenting with fracking caused a 2.3 Richter scaled earthquake due to a poor understanding of local geology and what seems to be a lack of understanding concerning the power of this technology. In the United States, East of Illinois, fracking has famously allowed tap water to be set on fire and fumes carried on the wind from sites have forced people from their homes.

In lieu of these breaches of public safety, many have suggested that a moratorium be imposed upon fracking until the process is fully understood and safeguards to the true best of their abilities be put into place including 'methane offsets'. If these companies are willing to risk our health and prosperity for short term gains (even if they are vaguely mutual for a few years) without a comprehensive understanding of how to 'Frack' safely and without real safeguards in place, they should not be operating within Illinois or anywhere in the world.