There’s Oil Under Illinois — And Almost Nobody Is Drilling It

🛢️ Illinois was once one of America’s biggest oil states. In 1940, only three states pumped more. 🌾 Today, under its quiet farm fields, sits the rock that fed the whole region’s oil boom, and almost nobody is drilling into it. In 2017 the state finally approved its first modern shale well, and 60 days later the permit came back. 📜 This video follows the paper trail: a 1930s oil rush, a law sold as the strictest in the nation, and the decisions that left a shale this rich sitting untouched. 🇺🇸 American Backbone covers the infrastructure, energy and engineering underneath ordinary American life. Subscribe for the next one.