Dreams, nightmares, stories--and politics. They're all part of this blog.
Those in Illinois who hope to keep fracking out of our state have an extra challenge: some environmental groups believe that passing HB 2615, a bill that hopes to regulate fracking, is the best course of action to take. Those of us who are following fracking's progress in other states see that regulatory bills don't seem to protect anyone or anything from fracking's dangers. The letter below, written by a long-time Illinois environmentalist to her colleagues, explains why HB 2615 just won't do what it's supposed to do.
If you feel so moved, please write to some of these environmental groups and ask them to support a fracking ban in Illinois. Regulating fracking is like trying to collect water in a sieve.
Thank you for reading this post. Thanks to those of you who read this blog.
Sandra
From: Carolyn Raffensperger [mailto:raffenspergerc@cs.com]
Sent: Thursday, May 09, 2013 10:24 AM
To: jack.darin@sierraclub.org; councildel@illinois.
Cc: michael.brune@sierraclub.org
Subject: an open letter to Illinois environmentalists
Sent: Thursday, May 09, 2013 10:24 AM
To: jack.darin@sierraclub.org; councildel@illinois.
Cc: michael.brune@sierraclub.org
Subject: an open letter to Illinois environmentalists
An Open Letter to Illinois Environmentalists about Fracking Legislation
My friends,
I think so often of you all and my days as president of the Illinois Environmental Council and nine years as State Field Representative of the Sierra Club. I cherish the memories of your dedication and grace. I write to you today because I know how hard you are struggling with the thorny problem of fracking in your great prairie state.
In March, I attended a continuing legal education conference on Illinois environmental law sponsored by the Illinois Bar Association. I had hoped to see old friends and learn about environmental legal innovation. The majority of lawyers in attendance were polluters’ defense lawyers and a few agency staffers. What I discovered was that there is almost no enforcement of environmental laws in Illinois and it is only getting worse. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources are in a financial free fall. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was forced to cut back their financial support of Illinois EPA enforcement because of the national budget sequester, even though Illinois is one of the states most backlogged on permitting and enforcement.
And then we heard about this new regulatory bill on fracking. I listened carefully hoping that it would actually be something new and different. But no matter how good a piece of legislation it might be (or not), regulation in Illinois will fail because there can be no enforcement. There is no money, no staff, and no political will to enforce environmental laws, even the very best of them.
The brilliant architect, William McDonough said that regulation is design failure. The simple fact that we consider regulating fracking recognizes that it is a polluting industry. Even if we had great regulations in place, Illinois has no capacity to enforce even the best of them. None.
I ask you, on behalf of Future Generations to stand together and oppose the regulatory bill for the simple reason that it cannot be enforced.
When I worked for the Sierra Club, David Brower was the great elder of the environmental movement. He had one regret—a terrible compromise: he led the Sierra Club in sacrificing Glen Canyon in exchange for relinquishing water development at Echo Park. Glen Canyon was flooded. But that terrible loss led them to fight dams in the Grand Canyon. Brower took out full-page ads in The New York Times asking “Should we also flood the Sistine Chapel so tourists can get nearer the ceiling?”
If fracking comes to Illinois, the spills and accidents are inevitable. The law you worked so hard to craft will not be enforced. It can’t be enforced given the financial state of both federal and Illinois regulatory agencies. Future Generations will face a world even more fraught with contamination and devastation than it is now. We should learn from Brower.
Don’t compromise.
Your ally,
Carolyn Raffensperger
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