From the Chicago Greens: The next monthly meeting will be on Sunday, April 13th, from 2-4:00 PM. at 1325 S. Wabash, Room 105, featuring a presentation by Frack Free Illinois with an informative powerpoint by Dr. Lora Chamberlain. http://www.illinoisgreens.org/
Frack Free Illinois has written a "Green Dozen" bills to try to limit the damage from all types of fracking, and worked with Sen. Dan Kotowski and Sen. Ira Silverstein to introduce them into the General Assembly for this spring session. You can read all about them here: http://frackfreeil.wordpress.com/
Here is how you can help:
Sign Petition
1) Please sign our petition in support of the "Green Dozen" http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/support-the-green-dozen
Attend Lobby Day, April 3
2) Please plan on attending our lobby day on Thursday, April 3rd in Springfield, we are car pooling and taking the train - drop us a note that you will be coming at our FB page https://www.facebook.com/FrackFreeIllinois and our FB event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/741111449242030/,
or send an email to drlora2@yahoo.com.
Organization Endorsement, Conference Calls
3) Your organization can endorse the "Green Dozen" fracking bills - please drop us a note at see.legis@gmail.com or join us on our Sunday night state-wide conference calls at 7pm, 1-605-477-2100 pin 458604#
Contact Energy Committee
4) You can make calls to your IL Rep and Sen, and the Senators on the Sen. Energy Committee in support of the "Green Dozen" at 1-217-782-2000 - the Senators on the Energy Committee. can be found here:
Join us in Springfield -- and join us on our FB event page -- Thanks!
The IL Sierra Club has publicly supported 10 of our "Green Dozen" fracking bills
And we support their fix of the Renewable Portfolio Standard HB 2864 (Mautino) / SB 103 (Frerichs) and we are looking at 2 other fracking bills that they support - which with a few tweaks will be good too,, SB 3424 - to protect the public lands in IL from fracking, and SB3181 which would dedicate the excise tax from fracking operations to be used for enforcement and legacy pollution issues.
Below we have the "Green Dozen" bills listed. We are most definitely not done with the fracking issue here in IL. Fracking is extreme energy extraction happening exactly when we need to move to renewable energy as fast as we can. And please do not think that fracking has slowed down the coal industry -- reports from Southern Illinois tell us that the coal strip mines are multiplying just as quickly as the frack rigs, they are just sending the coal off to China.
We do not believe that fracking will ever be safe, but much against our wishes it is moving forward here in Illinois, so we wrote these "Green Dozen" bills to stop at least the most egregious of the negative impacts on our Southern and Central Illinois communities, and we have a Ban on Fracking too.
We could have written 100 bills, but we stuck to the "Green Dozen"
Here is a synopsis of all the bills:
SB3492 - Safeguard Illinoisans In Our Active Earthquake Zones – Say "No" to fracking and disposal of waste water in IL active earthquake zones, the New Madrid and Wabash Valley. OK went from 50 earthquakes a year to 3000 last year, many of them frack waste disposal related.
SB3562 - Protect Illinois From Radioactive Waste – Fracking waste water and debris is often radioactive, the industry should test all of their waste and if + they should dispose of it as Low Level Radioactive Waste, (LLRW), and not spread it around the state.
SB3485 - Fracking Redefined – There is a huge loophole in the regulations, fracking methods such as nitrogen, propane, hydrofluoric acid and other dangerous gases/chemicals are not regulated or taxed. IL lawmakers know we must redefine fracking -- who are they protecting?
SB3328 - Safeguard The Mahomet Aquifer – Suspend fracking in the Mahomet Aquifer, the source of drinking water for over 1,000,000 Central Illinoisans, and create a task force to prevent contamination.
SB3327 - Shield Illinoisans With Improved Setbacks – Increase the distance from fracking to homes, schools, hospitals, businesses, livestock operations, wetlands, waterways and nuclear power plants to 1500ft. If Dallas, TX can pass 1500 ft setbacks then Illinois can too.
SB3484 - Flood Plains Are Unsafe For Fracking – Say "No" to Colorado-style contamination in Illinois flood plains.
SB3330 - Patients And The Medical Community Deserve Full Chemical Disclosure – Make sure all fracking chemicals are disclosed to the medical community and emergency responders. Public health should trump “trade secrets”.
Make Fracking Fair:
SB3326 - Allow Consent From Counties + Create A Fair Permit Challenge Process – All local governments, including counties, should be able to consent (or not consent) to fracking permits. Increase the permit challenge process to 90 days.
SB3230 - End The Production Tax 2-Year “Give Away” – The Oil and NG industry does not need a 2 year “grace period” on taxes.
SB3329 - Protect Illinois Taxpayers From Industry-Related Liability – Increase and specify industry insurance requirements, and increase the bonds. When the fraccidents start happening here in IL - don't let the frackers skip town.
SB3483 - Safeguard Illinois' Property Owners from Industry Trespassing – Make sure Illinois landowners are informed and give consent for fracking on their legally-owned property.
Protect Illinois From All Of The Above:
SB3386 - Ban Fracking And Enhanced Investigative Task Force, New fracking revelations, findings and incidents are happening in states across the country every day, let's learn from their mistakes!
The full text of all of the bills can be found here: http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/default.asp
