Please leave this field empty
Donate Monthly Make a Gift Renew Your Membership Ways to Give
Food & Water Watch Food & Water Watch Food & Water Watch
  • About
  • Problems
  • Campaigns
  • Impacts
  • Research
  • Contact
Donate Monthly Make a Gift Renew Your Membership Ways to Give
  • facebook
  • twitter
Please leave this field empty
Food & Water Watch Food & Water Watch
$
Menu
  • About
  • News
  • Research Library
  • Contact
  • Careers
  • Donate
Search
Please leave this field empty
  • facebook
  • twitter

We Say No To Fracking in Illinois

This will make you mad: after Maryland banned fracking in a historic win, oil companies are trying to frack in Illinois.

  • facebook
  • twitter
  • google-plus
  • envelope

We all need safe food and clean water.

Donate
Activist holds "Ban Fracking Now" sign
07.7.17

Food & Water Watch has been fighting to keep the fracking industry at bay in order to protect Illinois communities for nearly 5 years. This past year the anti-fracking movement successfully pushed forward a fracking ban in Maryland only to turn around and face proposals to start fracking for the first time in the beautiful state of Illinois. We have had to stave off fracking intentions in Illinois several times before, but this time the industry is targeting a particularly vulnerable area of the state. While we can, and we will if necessary, ban fracking county by county and city by city, statewide bans and ultimately a nationwide ban is the only way we can truly protect our communities from the environmental, public health and economic threats of fracking.

We know exactly what will happen if oil companies bring fracking to Illinois. We’ve seen the trail of devastation they leave behind as they frack Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and North Dakota. We won’t let Illinois be next on that list. 

Peer reviewed, scientific studies have proven time and time again that the process of injecting fluids and hundreds of chemicals into the ground to extract oil and gas is linked to heightened exposure to radioactive elements in nearby communities. White County, Illinois, the spot currently under consideration for fracking, sits atop the New Albany Shale which is known to have naturally high levels of radioactivity. Fracking would accelerate the release and levels of radioactive elements like radon and uranium, posing an incredible public health risk. Radon is the leading cause of lung cancer among nonsmokers in the United States, killing more than 20,000 Americans each year. 

While the exact amount varies, a single fracking well typically requires approximately five million gallons of water for successful extraction. A Ceres report based on industry data found over a third of the wells studied were in regions that “will experience groundwater depletion.” Approximately 65 percent of Southern Illinois is used for agricultural purposes. Fracking in Southern Illinois would therefore pose a risk to the stability of our food system and all Illinoisans that depend on agriculture for their livelihood.

White County is also co-located among most major fault systems in Illinois, along with two primary seismic zones known as the New Madrid Seismic Zone and the Wabash Valley Seismic Zone. Opening the New Albany Shale up to drilling and fracking would increase the likelihood of increased seismicity, putting millions of people at risk.

Illinois and the surrounding region have faced enough social and environmental strains from petcoke on the Southeast Side, to the destruction of prime farm ground by the Dakota Access pipeline in Central Illinois, to coal mines in the South. Welcoming fracking to Illinois would be a dirty deal in an age where climate change poses the largest environmental threat ever known by humankind. It is not worth the risk.

Follow along with our fight against fracking in Illinois via our Food & Water Watch Illinois Twitter!

Click here to follow us on twitter!

Related Links

  • Millions of People Threatened By Proposed Fracking Project in Southern Illinois: Group Will Unite to Say NO
  • Application To Start Fracking In Illinois Draws Protest
Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly version

Monsanto's Roundup is a "probable human carcinogen." We need to ban it!

Get the latest on your food and water with news, research and urgent actions.

Please leave this field empty

Latest News

  • Trump’s Out, Biden’s In! Now The Fight Of Our Lives On Climate Begins.

    Trump’s Out, Biden’s In! Now The Fight Of Our Lives On Climate Begins.

  • Biden’s 100-Day Must-Do List for a Cleaner, Healthier Country

    Biden’s 100-Day Must-Do List for a Cleaner, Healthier Country

  • Fracking, Federal Lands, And Follow-Through: Will President Biden Do What He Promised?

    Fracking, Federal Lands, And Follow-Through: Will President Biden Do What He Promised?

See More News & Opinions

For Media: See our latest press releases and statements

Food & Water Insights

Looking for more insights and our latest research?

Visit our policy & research library
  • Eversource’s Plan to Privatize New Hartford’s Water

  • The Urgent Case for a Moratorium on Mega-Dairies in New Mexico

  • Fracking, Power Plants and Exports: Three Steps for Meaningful Climate Action

Fracking activist with stickersFracking activist in hatLegal team loves family farmsFood & Water Watch organizer protecting your food

Work locally, make a difference.

Get active in your community.

Food & Water Impact

  • Victories
  • Stories
  • Facts
  • Trump, Here's a Better Use for $25 Billion

  • Here's How We're Going to Build the Clean Energy Revolution

  • How a California Activist Learned to Think Locally

Keep drinking water safe and affordable for everyone.

Take Action
food & water watch logo
en Español

Food & Water Watch mobilizes regular people to build political power to move bold & uncompromised solutions to the most pressing food, water, and climate problems of our time. We work to protect people’s health, communities, and democracy from the growing destructive power of the most powerful economic interests.

Food & Water Watch is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

Food & Water Action is a 501(c)4 organization.

Food & Water Watch Headquarters

1616 P Street, NW,
Washington, DC 20036

Main: 202.683.2500

Contact your regional office.

Work with us: See all job openings

  • Problems
    • Broken Democracy
    • Climate Change & Environment
    • Corporate Control of Food
    • Corporate Control of Water
    • Factory Farming & Food Safety
    • Fracking
    • GMOs
    • Global Trade
    • Pollution Trading
  • Solutions
    • Advocate Fair Policies
    • Legal Action
    • Organizing for Change
    • Research & Policy Analysis
  • Our Impact
    • Facts
    • Stories
    • Victories
  • Take Action
    • Get Active Where You Live
    • Organizing Tools
    • Find an Event
    • Volunteer with Us
    • Live Healthy
    • Donate
  • Give
    • Give Now
    • Give Monthly
    • Give a Gift Membership
    • Membership Options
    • Fundraise
    • Workplace Giving
    • Planned Giving
    • Other Ways to Give
  • About
  • News
  • Research Library
  • Contact
  • Careers
  • Donate
Learn more about Food & Water Action www.foodandwateraction.org.
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • 2021 © Food & Water Watch
  • www.foodandwaterwatch.org
  • Terms of Service
  • Data Usage Policy