Not ONE Well!
Another 14 day comment period is open now until August 18th. As they say the devil is in the details…
IDNR has opened the “second” comment period following the August 2nd Public Hearing on Woolsey’s application for the first frack well. These comments should pertain to testimony or evidence that was received duringthe public hearing on Wednesday, August 2. Please include the review number HVHHF-000001 when emailing your comments to IDNR at DNR.HFPublicComments@illinois.gov
The deadline for submitting responsive Public Comments is August 18th. IDNR could potentially issue the permit any day thereafter. The Judge will be sending his report to the IDNR Director by August 10th. It appears that the deadline for ruling on the application is August 31.
For more information about what evidence and testimony was presented at the hearing, please see the notes below, which include a link to a google folder that has request for hearings, testimony, and related documents of evidence.
A Google Folder with written testimony and evidence submitted during the public hearing can be found here. Additional Public Comments are allowed until 5pm August 18 but must be restricted to addressing information submitted during the hearing. Please focus on quality and substance, and cite research and science. They don’t give a damn if you don’t want fracking, or “think it’s a bad idea”; it’s our job to PROVE to them that fracking is a threat to public health and safety. Focus on EPA, USGS, Compendium of Scientific, Medical, and Media Findings Demonstrating Risks and Harms of Fracking, or any peer review science listed below.
-Barb’s statement mentioned drought and water shortages, in addition to seismic concerns. I suggest sending links and cite climate science on threats to water. She mentions inadequate containment for flowback water, an inadequate collection plan, and the failure to reference underground water studies to ensure the protection of underground water resources.
-Karen’s statement mentioned direct links between fracking, injection wells, and increased earthquakes. The judge already attempted to point out that Karen’s issue was more with the injections wells than the frack permit. She responded that we wouldn’t need the injection well if there was not a fracking permit. Read her testimony and follow her citations. Karen cites health and economic issues.
-Michael’s statement was filed August 3, the day after the hearing, because Michael was unable to get off work. Both IDNR and Woolsey have objected to his statement being entered into evidence. We are hopeful that the Hearing Officer admits his statement, but we will not know until early next week. Michael’s statement mentions threats to worker due to lack of emergency response preparedness. There is an elementary school less than 5 miles from drill site–how will they be protected in a blowout or emergency situation?
-Mrs. Mona Weaver spoke briefly at the Public Hearing and then submitted a written statement on August 3. IDNR and Woolsey have objected to the admission of that statement also, and we will not know the ruling until early next week. Mona talks about ponds drying up and deer contaminated with chemicals and radioactivity.
You all know what to do. Blast them with SCIENCE! Need help?- come to the SAFE meeting next Saturday.
Links to Science and Facts:
Public Heath Issues: The Compendium is a fully referenced compilation of the significant body of scientific, medical, and journalistic findings demonstrating risks and harms of fracking. Organized to be accessible to public officials, researchers, journalists, and the public at large, the Compendium succinctly summarizes key studies and other findings relevant to the ongoing public debate about unconventional methods of oil and gas extraction.http://concernedhealthny.org/…/COMPENDIUM-4.0_FINAL_11.
SAFE’s folder of Research on seismicity, compiled from Frack Free IL and SAFE: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B-CJoKRuF0VvVWFiVURuLVpTM3c?usp=sharing
Water issues: EPA executive summary of water contamination due to frackinghttps://www.epa.gov/…/docum…/hfdwa_executive_summary.pdf
Full report on EPA study include three links to over 1200 pages of research https://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/hfstudy/recordisplay.cfm?deid=332990
Water scarcity science https://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/syr/AR5_SYR_FINAL_SPM.pdf
Water demands in the future https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/WaterRisk.pdf
Widespread Systemic Impacts in PA http://publicherald.org/hidden-data-suggests-fracking-created-widespread-systemic-impact-in-pennsylvania/ and agency misconduct and mishandling of complaints (this could relate to Barb and her comment about whether IDNR is prepared to enforce and regulate fracking http://publicherald.org/to-hell-with-us-records-of-misconduct-found-inside-pa-drinking-water-investigations/
Radioactive Shale: USGS radioactivity from produced water https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs-0142-99/fs-0142-99.pdf
Rich’s blog cites science and explains about radioactivity. We suggest putting it in your own words and not cut and pasting his words as your comments https://medium.com/@richwhitney/one-of-many-reasons-to-oppose-fracking-in-illinois-radioactive-contamination-f8ad6ae34e6
Workers’s Health and Safety: Inadequate worker protection in fracking industry and no way to enforce OSHA laws. See NRDC’s comments in our google folder p17 and 25 https://www.osha.gov/dts/hazardalerts/hydraulic_frac_hazard_alert.pdf.
More reports on worker related health cost p17. Also see citations in back. http://environmentamerica.org/sites/environment/files/reports/The%20Costs%20of%20Fracking%20vUS.pdf
Air Pollution and threats to workers and surrounding community https://endocrinedisruption.org/audio-and-video/oil-and-gas-basics
Emergency preparedness and protection of public safety: The Booth Elementary School is less than 3 miles from drill site and along the route to the Injection Well site. There is nothing stated in the application about how it will handle well blowouts, and emergency evacuations- especially while school is in session.
“Oil and gas development emits known hematological carcinogens, such as benzene, and increasingly occurs in residential areas. We explored whether residential proximity to oil and gas development was associated with risk for hematologic cancers using a registry-based case-control study design. How do we protect the children? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0170423
More links to science on health effects. Type in “School” in the search bar: https://endocrinedisruption.org/audio-and-video/fracking-related-health-research-database/search-the-database
The next SAFE member meeting is Saturday, August 12 at 1:30pm at the Douglass Art School. We hope to see you there. 900 Douglas St, Murphysboro, IL Questions 618-697-1474
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