A task force formed by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to address the Hydraulic Fracturing Regulatory Act has elicited negative reactions from some southern Illinoisians.

The Illinois People’s Action group, a faith-based community organization with the mission of helping its members work for justice in their local communities, claims the task force is biased because of the lack of representation from the public and scientific community. The task force members criticized are from reading environmental groups.

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, takes place when previously unavailable natural gas is removed from shale rock layers through a method of horizontal drilling to inject highly-pressurized water, chemicals and sand. The fluid cracks the rock or widens previous cracks so the natural gas can be released.

Annette McMichael, a member of both the Illinois People’s Action and local organization SAFE—Southern Illinoisans Against Fracturing our Environment— said the IDNR indicated it would include both groups in meetings and other decisions. However, she said the IDNR has not delivered on this promise.

“We’ve had a couple meetings with IDNR which we were hoping would be fruitful but obviously that hasn’t happened. This task force is nothing more than a slap in the face to those of us who feel fracking needs to be further studied before it’s approved,” McMichael said.

McMichael said the members of the task force are environmentalists who support fracking. She said she is concerned because while many still think fracking needs more research, the committee is composed of individuals who want to pursue a solution without looking at the possibility of further complications that fracking may produce.

The members of the task force the IPA has listed in a press release include Ann Alexander, a senior attorney at Natural Resources Defense Council, Jenny Cassel, staff attorney at Environmental Law and Policy Center, Brian Sauder, policy director at Faith in Place, and Terri Treacy, a conservation field representative at the Sierra Club.

Treacy said it does not matter that scientists are not on the committee.

“Although the four environmental people on the task force are not per se scientists, the groups all have people either in their organization or they work closely with people, other organizations who do have scientists, so it’s not just going to be four people in a silo,” Treacy said. “They will be reaching out to their members or colleagues to help.”

Treacy said if issues arise, they will be taken care of by the regulations.

She also said she is sure there are more members on the task force other than what the IPA has listed, but she is not sure who the other members may be.

“There’s a lot more to it than just the four environmental groups represented,” Treacy said.

She also said the task force will not be making any decisions.

“It’s not a task force that makes any decisions, investigations per se. We’re just to inform the General Assembly in 2016; it’s just in regards to how the regulatory theme for the hydro-fracking is going,” Treacy said.

McMichael said the IDNR needs to create a task force that represents Southern Illinois, because that is where most of the fracking will be taking place.

“The task force is composed of people that helped create the bill in the first place; no one from Southern Illinois is represented,” McMichael said.

The IDNR could not be reached by the time of publication.