diff --git a/ChangeLog.md b/ChangeLog.md
--- a/ChangeLog.md
+++ b/ChangeLog.md
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+## 1.1.5
+
+*  Add pass-through instances for Alternative and MonadPlus [#214](https://github.com/snoyberg/conduit/pull/214)
+
 ## 1.1.4.1
 
 * Allow older `exceptions` version again
diff --git a/Control/Monad/Trans/Resource/Internal.hs b/Control/Monad/Trans/Resource/Internal.hs
--- a/Control/Monad/Trans/Resource/Internal.hs
+++ b/Control/Monad/Trans/Resource/Internal.hs
@@ -23,7 +23,8 @@
 ) where
 
 import Control.Exception (throw,Exception,SomeException)
-import Control.Applicative (Applicative (..))
+import Control.Applicative (Applicative (..), Alternative(..))
+import Control.Monad (MonadPlus(..))
 import Control.Monad.Trans.Control
     ( MonadTransControl (..), MonadBaseControl (..) )
 import Control.Monad.Base (MonadBase, liftBase)
@@ -234,6 +235,16 @@
     pure = ResourceT . const . pure
     ResourceT mf <*> ResourceT ma = ResourceT $ \r ->
         mf r <*> ma r
+
+-- | Since 1.1.5
+instance Alternative m => Alternative (ResourceT m) where
+    empty = ResourceT $ \_ -> empty
+    (ResourceT mf) <|> (ResourceT ma) = ResourceT $ \r -> mf r <|> ma r
+
+-- | Since 1.1.5
+instance MonadPlus m => MonadPlus (ResourceT m) where
+    mzero = ResourceT $ \_ -> mzero
+    (ResourceT mf) `mplus` (ResourceT ma) = ResourceT $ \r -> mf r `mplus` ma r
 
 instance Monad m => Monad (ResourceT m) where
     return = ResourceT . const . return
diff --git a/resourcet.cabal b/resourcet.cabal
--- a/resourcet.cabal
+++ b/resourcet.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Name:                resourcet
-Version:             1.1.4.1
+Version:             1.1.5
 Synopsis:            Deterministic allocation and freeing of scarce resources.
 description:         Hackage documentation generation is not reliable. For up to date documentation, please see: <http://www.stackage.org/package/resourcet>.
 License:             BSD3
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
                        Control.Monad.Trans.Resource.Internal
                        Data.Acquire
                        Data.Acquire.Internal
-  Build-depends:       base                     >= 4.3          && < 5
+  Build-depends:       base                     >= 4.5          && < 5
                      , lifted-base              >= 0.1
                      , transformers-base        >= 0.4.4        && < 0.5
                      , monad-control            >= 0.3.1        && < 1.1