An overflow crowd filled a public meeting last night in Brooklyn, south of Jackson. Many in the crowd are worried about the environmental impact of a growing oil drilling operation in the Irish Hills.
"There is nothing they can do here to keep from having an accident...It's going to happen," proclaimed one of the people in the audience.
The crowd at the public meeting demanded answers from a panel of oil industry executives and state officials about drilling going on in the Irish Hills. The region is becoming one of the leading crude oil production centers in Michigan.
Tim Baker is a vice president with West Bay Exploration, the company doing much of the drilling. He admits they need to do a better job explaining how they are trying to drill safely.
“These people have a lot of good questions. This is a beautiful area. There’s a lot of beautiful lakes and streams here," Baker said after the meeting, "We wanted to communicate to them that we are trying to develop (the oil) the best way possible.”
Many Irish Hills residents are worried oil drilling may end up lowering their property values.
Democrats at the state capital are calling for a two-year moratorium on a procedure used to extract hard-to-reach oil and gas deposits.
They are taking aim at a process called hydraulic fracturing – or “fracking” – where water, sand, and chemicals are sent down a well to loosen stubborn pockets of gas and oil.
Critics say it has caused pollution and dried-up water wells in other states.
State Representative Jeff Irwin thinks the procedure needs to be more tightly regulated as it becomes more common in Michigan.
He said more study is needed on the potential effects of deep-rock fracking on the world’s largest supply of fresh water.
“We have a tremendous amount to protect here in Michigan with our surface waters and our Great Lakes,” Irwin said. “When you think about what makes Michigan a special place to be, it’s really our water. It’s the one thing that we have that makes us unique over and above anyplace in the world. We have the best water resources in the world.”
Irwin said new rules should include limits on groundwater withdrawals and full disclosure of all chemicals used.
Brad Wurfel with the state Department of Environmental Quality said Michigan has some of the strictest fracking regulations in the country, and that the process has been safely used in the state's shallow rock for decades.
“If you look around the state, you’ll see where oil and gas producers over the past 60 years have fracked probably on the order of around 12,000 wells,” said Wurfel.
Wurfel said the state updated its drilling regulations in May to address hydro-fracking deeper into the rock.
Consumers Energy says its natural gas customers will be paying less this winter to heat their homes.
Dan Bishop is a Consumers spokesman. He says more plentiful supplies are leading to a 3 percent cut in natural gas prices.
“In recent years there’s been a large amount of new natural gas discoveries in the United States and in Canada. And that extra increase of supply has really put downward pressure on prices," says Bishop.
An environmental group is calling on Michigan lawmakers and President Obama to ban the natural gas extraction process known as “fracking.”
Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, involves injecting a high-pressure mix of water, sand and chemicals into underground rock formations to release natural gas.
Food and Water Watch says fracking poses an “unacceptable risk” to water supplies and human health. Several recent investigations have shown that fracking contaminated groundwater in several states.
Lynna Kaucheck is with Food and Water Watch in Detroit. She says northern Michigan is a current hotspot for fracking exploration.
“The northern part of the lower Peninsula sits on the Collingwood-Utica shale which is very deep deposits of shale gas. And so right now a lot of out of-state-companies are purchasing mineral rights so they can begin horizontal fracking for natural gas.”
Kauchek says that could to lead to chemically-contaminated groundwater, and pose a risk to the state’s agricultural and tourism industries.
“We don’t believe that fracking can be done safely. Especially not the way that they’re doing it right now.”
State environmental regulators say the gas is so deep in the ground that fracking shouldn’t affect water supplies. They acknowledge some concerns, but say the practice is generally safe.
Since producing a Michigan Watch series on the "hydraulic fracking" boom in Michigan last September and October on Michigan Radio, not much has been said or done about this method of drilling for natural gas.
A leak has now put the issue back in the news.
The Associated reports a leak has shut down a drilling operation not too far from Traverse City.
It's not yet clear whether it will damage underground water sources. It does raise questions as to whether Michigan regulations are adequate to protect the environment while exploiting the gas reserves in the state.
Hundreds of brokers for oil and gas companies are offering landowners in northern lower Michigan contracts to drill for natural gas. Energy companies are betting the access to deep shale gas reserves will pay off big. But landowners don't always know about the risks.
An exploratory well has produced good results from a new source of natural gas in northern lower Michigan. So, energy companies have hired agents, called landmen to go knocking on doors of private landowners, trying to get them to sign contracts to lease their land for drilling.
A regulatory agency in Michigan says it can handle a new type of drilling for natural gas. That's what regulators in other states said before complaints about water contamination and leaking gas started coming in.
When the Great Lakes water levels fell a few years ago, people began thinking more about how much water we use. Now, this new kind of drilling, called horizontal hydraulic fracturing, again is causing concern about how we use water.
Water already has been used for vertical hydraulic fracturing in thousands of gas wells in Michigan. It takes about 50,000 gallons to drill each well and fracture shale layers underground to release the natural gas.
Horizontal fracturing, also called horizontal fracking, uses a hundred times more water.
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