Sierra Club leaders are under attack from their members for opposing hydraulic fracturing (or fracking) in one state, but not in another.

In supporting an industry-backed bill in Illinois, a Sierra Club official, Jack Darin, said there was no way to avoid fracking from taking place, so the organization might as well compromise and get regulations in place.

“So for people who have heard stories, and have concerns about fracking and what it might mean for their drinking water and the places they love, we share those concerns,” Darin told St. Louis Public Radio. “But with this bill, which in many respects is the strongest of any state in the country, our communities and you will be much, much safer.”

The Corporate Crime Reporter noted, however, that the Illinois legislation is “weaker” than a similar bill in New York State that environmental groups have rejected.

Complaints about the Illinois plan include its provisions to allow drilling on state land and permit fracking as long as rules are in place to regulate it.

Former Sierra Club member Lisa Wright, who quit the organization last year after its national leader, Michael Brune, accepted a $25 million donation from Chesapeake Energy, said in a letter to Brune: “Sierra Club’s role in fast-tracking fracking in Illinois is shameful.”

She added: “Please save yourself the effort of defending your involvement with supporting the Illinois fracking bill as trying to help ‘protect’ anyone. You are plainly giving away Sierra Club’s seal of approval and trying to play both sides. The only rational response for an environmental group is to support a ban on this practice in areas where it is not already occurring, and to work to stop it where it is already occurring.”

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

Red Light Green Light: Sierra Club Says No to Fracking in New York, Yes to Fracking in Illinois (Corporate Crime Reporter)

Environmentalists, Business Groups Reach Deal On Fracking In Illinois (by Brian Mackey, Illinois Public Radio)

Sierra Club Took $26 Million from Natural Gas Industry (by Matt Bewig, AllGov)