Update On New Drilling In Illinois

The Chicago Tribune provides an update on drilling/fracking in Illinois.

This month companies wishing to engage in horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in Illinois must begin registering with the state, a new requirement. The companies must register 30 days before filing an application to drill, and their intentions will be posted online, offering counties and towns eager for the tax revenue from drilling a hint of what might come.

Regulators are still months away from finalizing the application process under a law passed earlier this year to regulate the drilling method. As a result, companies that have spent millions leasing thousands of acres of land say they are frustrated by the slow pace in Illinois.

Denver-based Strata-X Energy, which trades on the Canadian and Australian exchanges, has spent about $2 million in Illinois leasing nearly 50,000 acres. Its chief executive said the company has been "hamstrung" in its attempts to start drilling.
"We have only a certain amount of time to develop those leases. They have a 'use by' date. If we don't use it, we lose it," said Tim Hoops, president, chief executive and managing director of Strata-X.

And, of course, every wacky active environmentalist will do whatever she/he can do to stop drilling.