Submitted by Seth Whitehead, Executive Director, Illinois Petroleum Resources Board

If you are a “downstate” Illinoisan, you have probably seen a pump jack or two nodding up and down somewhere near where you live and are aware there is significant oil production in the state. But a lot of Southern Illinoisans may not know that almost all the folks that drill and pump those oil wells that dot the countryside live in the same communities where they produce. The complete opposite of “Big Oil,” most Illinois oil producers are your neighbors and fellow small business owners. A vast majority of those local oil producers are also doing good things across Southern Illinois community. Here are just a few examples. [Read more...]

Submitted by Seth Whitehead <seth@iprb.org>

When it comes to energy, rhetoric sure seems to get a lot more attention than reality.

If many politicians and media outlets were to be believed, the “green” energy transition is just around the corner and the permanent cancellation of our hydrocarbon fuel-driven society is imminent. But in reality, we are going to need even more traditional energy sources such as oil and natural gas than we are currently using in the near future. And it’s not just the fossil fuel industry making that assertion. [Read more...]