Fracking Illinois

Hello everyone! My name is Sam and I am the Secretary of DePaul’s Environmental Law Society. I will be one of the contributors for this blog. Don’t fear my Footnotes.¹

I have a strong interest in how human interaction with the environment impacts the health of communities. Thus, I want to post about a pressing environmental health topic that gets a lot of attention nationally,² but needs immediate attention locally.

The issue: regulation of Hydraulic Fracturing (“fracking”) in Illinois. The problem: it doesn’t exist! There are no laws in the Land of Lincoln about fracking. There are proposals and there is legislative activity, but so far, we got nothin’.

“Fracking” in its most basic, is the process of injecting a mixture of water, sand and chemicals deep into the ground to release natural gas from geologic formations. This natural gas can then be captured and used to create energy. Fracking operations are rapidly sweeping across the nation due to low pricing and increased restrictions on conventional coal power plants.³ Industrial giants currently have landmen⁴ surveying the country to find lucrative spots to drill, including Illinois. About half of Illinois is located above the New Albany Shale formation and oil companies are eager to test the state’s geologic potential.

The health scares associated with fracking are dramatic. In 2008, the EPA performed a study to determine the health effects of fracking in Wyoming. The Agency discovered levels of benzene (a known carcinogen) at 246 micrograms per liter. That mark is well above the maximum permitted level of 5 micrograms per liter and a major cause for concern. Additionally, in Pennsylvania, methane gas, ammonia, arsenic, chloromethane, iron, manganese, t-butyl alcohol, and toluene were all discovered in well water surrounding a fracking operation.

If you look only at the potential health effects, strict regulation seems like a no-brainer. However, there are two sides to every story, and like most environmental issues, Big Industry has a tale to tell about job creation. Even President Obama recognizes the “60,000 job” potential of natural gas.⁵ This back-and-forth between community health and economic vitality in down-state Illinois recently resulted in interesting activity in Springfield.

Rep. Naomi D. Jakobsson, D-Urbana, amended a bill which previously had support from both environmental groups and industry. The amendments proposed a two year moratorium on fracking in Illinois. As a result, industry-friendly lawmakers blocked the bill from voting and Illinois remains lawless. Beyond the moratorium, the proposed amendments were a bit extreme. If the bill had passed, only Alaska would have regulated fracking more tightly. Perhaps worried lawmakers were justified. Would this bill not only prevent future jobs for constituents, but force current companies to pack up and ship out of Illinois?

It is clear that fracking is here to stay. The U.S. EPA is involved⁶, but the issues of community health and safety are traditionally left to the States to regulate. Therefore, Illinois needs to step up and speak about the elephant-in-the-room: its lack of laws. Any proposed regulation should not be taken hastily, as the dangers (both health and economic) could be devastating. Take your time Illinois, but please do something!⁷ 

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1 Taking a queue from Bill Simmons of ESPN’s Grantland, I will sporadically add footnotes to my posts. They may not be as witty as his, but hopefully they are better than Bluebook cites.

2 Documentary film lover? Watch this: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1558250/

3 Are we left with a Hobbesian Choice of coal/Climate Change or natural gas/fracking contamination? But see wind and solar power.

4 Fun fact: Our oil connected former President George W. Bush got his start as a landman in Texas.

5 When did he say that?! 2012 State of the Union, http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/01/24/remarks-president-state-union-address

6 EPA draft guidance for permitting of hydro-fracturing operations is open for public comment until Aug. 23. Act now!

7 Spin-off Legal Issue: Fracking chemicals as trade-secrets and the resulting “doctor gag rule.” http://www.npr.org/2012/05/17/152268501/pennsylvania-doctors-worry-over-fracking-gag-rule

Hello World!

Now is an exciting time for the DePaul Environmental Law Society! Over the last few years, ELS has been progressively expanding its base within the college of law and the 2012-13 academic year promises to be the organization's tipping point. The officers for the upcoming academic year have several exciting new plans for the organization, including: launching this blog, which will become a vehicle for developing a student written and published newsletter; increased opportunities for community involvement, such as the fall beach clean-up and another, as yet undetermined, fall volunteer day; and, the return of our annual fall environmental law career panel. Other new initiatives are in the works, but are most appropriate to announce closer to the spring semester.

Perhaps the most exciting new development is this blog. New law students are continuously encouraged to hone their writing skills, and for good reason. An attorney's trade-in-stock is words; those who are able to bend the language to their will are more effective advocates for their clients. And, as with any other skill, “practice makes perfect.” Therefore, the ELS leadership is very excited to unveil this blog and announce its grand purpose. Of course, part of the reason for its existence is to aggregate information relevent to ELS members and those interested in environmental law in general, but more than that — and more to the point — it is intended to provide an arena in which new ELS members may develop their skills as writers. 

Beginning in the fall, it is the plan of the ELS leadership to turn the blog over to new members — one small group after another. For a month or so at a time, these small groups — under the supervision of senior ELS members — will write regular posts on developments in environmental law, highlight general interest stories related to environmental issues, advertise upcoming ELS events, report on past ELS events, and generally write, write, write and then write some more! In this way, ELS will benefit from an increased online presence, but more than that, new ELS members will have the opportunity to develop a body of writing that highlights their skills as wordsmiths, while simultaneously sharpening those very same skills.

The ELS leadership is very excited about this new endeavor and we hope you are too. And yet, since this is our shiniest new toy, we aren't yet ready to hand it over to our newest members — call us greedy, but to be perfectly frank, we don't have “newest members” yet anyway. So, for the remainder of the summer and until we get settled into the new school year, we plan to run this blog through the paces ourselves. So please indulge us this wish, and check back often to see what we each have to say. And continue to come back throughout the fall and the entire academic year to see what ELS — and our new members — are up to!