1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51

Oil and Gas Development

How a Drilling Boom Sparked
a Forceful Grassroots Campaign

IMAGE imgs/glb-su.fa9819.gif

By Keith Schneider

The public's 22,000-acre Jordan River Valley will remain off-limits to industrial development thanks to the determined efforts of thousands of Michigan citizens who spoke out to the Governor and the Legislature. However, the watershed for the Jordan and eight other northern Michigan rivers continue to be threatened by haphazard oil and gas development.
See pages 39-44 for the Michigan Energy Reform Coalition's campaign updates.

For 360 million years natural gas has lain in the dense layer of rock beneath northern Michigan known as
the Antrim Shale formation. But it wasn't until 1987 that oil and gas companies swept into the forests of
Otsego County to tap the reserve. It was the beginning of a drilling bonanza that riddled the North Woods with new wells, caused commotion in rural communities, and made energy executives wealthy at taxpayer expense.
The drilling boom, though, will be remembered for one other outcome. It gave rise in the 1990s to a
citizens movement to curb the damage and end the subsidies, becoming one of the largest and most influential
grassroots conservation campaigns in the Midwest.
"The changes that happened were totally the result of citizens," said Glen Sheppard, editor of the North
Woods Call, a biweekly newspaper published in Charlevoix. "It's the most progress I've seen on a conservation
issue during this decade."
Until the mid-1980s Antrim Shale had been regarded as a low-yielding energy reserve. Although the shale
rock is comparatively shallow -- from 1,000 to 1,800 feet deep -- and therefore cheap to drill, it is so dense
that each well produces a small amount of gas. A few Antrim wells were drilled in Otsego County in 1940 and
then largely forgotten.
But then a generous federal tax break and improvements in technology spurred development. So did a deal
negotiated by the Engler Administration in 1993 that allowed developers to write off millions of dollars in production
costs before paying the state royalties for drilling on public land.
The gas industry rapidly expanded its exploration territory, marching east from Otsego County into
Montmorency, Alpena, and Alcona counties, and taking control of state and private land westward to Antrim
and Manistee counties.
Altogether, more than 6,000 wells have been drilled, with thousands of miles of new roads and pipelines
cut through the forest in 10 counties. The industry also has built more than 300 noisy compressor stations in
the woods to move the gas to market. Most of them are powered by 1,000-horsepower engines and are air-
cooled by fans with blades as big and fast as airplane propellers.
The speed of the development and the extensive damage it caused became an issue wherever the drillers
were working. A task force of senior administrators at the Michigan Department of Natural Resources
concluded in 1992 that the pace of the drilling was outstripping the agency's ability to adequately protect communities
and the environment.
Despite these findings, the state has continued to lease hundreds of thousands of acres of public land each
year for drilling and to approve nearly every permit application that comes before it. The industry maintains its
considerable influence in the Legislature, the Governor's Office, and the regulatory agencies. In 1992 alone,
more than 2,000 drilling permits were issued -- this year, as of August 31, the number is 400.
(continued on next page)



		Oil and Gas Development How a Drilling Boom Sparked a Forceful Grassroots Campaign

		By Keith Schneider
	The public's 22,000-acre Jordan River Valley will remain off-limits to industrial development thanks to the determined efforts of thousands of Michigan citizens who spoke out to the Governor and the Legislature. However, the watershed for the Jordan and eight other northern Michigan rivers continue to be threatened by haphazard oil and gas development. See pages 39-44 for the Michigan Energy Reform Coalition's campaign updates.
For 360 million years natural gas has lain in the dense layer of rock beneath northern Michigan known as the Antrim Shale formation. But it wasn't until 1987 that oil and gas companies swept into the forests of Otsego County to tap the reserve. It was the beginning of a drilling bonanza that riddled the North Woods with new wells, caused commotion in rural communities, and made energy executives wealthy at taxpayer expense. The drilling boom, though, will be remembered for one other outcome. It gave rise in the 1990s to a citizens movement to curb the damage and end the subsidies, becoming one of the largest and most influential grassroots conservation campaigns in the Midwest. "The changes that happened were totally the result of citizens," said Glen Sheppard, editor of the North Woods Call, a biweekly newspaper published in Charlevoix. "It's the most progress I've seen on a conservation issue during this decade." Until the mid-1980s Antrim Shale had been regarded as a low-yielding energy reserve. Although the shale rock is comparatively shallow -- from 1,000 to 1,800 feet deep -- and therefore cheap to drill, it is so dense that each well produces a small amount of gas. A few Antrim wells were drilled in Otsego County in 1940 and then largely forgotten. But then a generous federal tax break and improvements in technology spurred development. So did a deal negotiated by the Engler Administration in 1993 that allowed developers to write off millions of dollars in production costs before paying the state royalties for drilling on public land. The gas industry rapidly expanded its exploration territory, marching east from Otsego County into Montmorency, Alpena, and Alcona counties, and taking control of state and private land westward to Antrim and Manistee counties. Altogether, more than 6,000 wells have been drilled, with thousands of miles of new roads and pipelines cut through the forest in 10 counties. The industry also has built more than 300 noisy compressor stations in the woods to move the gas to market. Most of them are powered by 1,000-horsepower engines and are air- cooled by fans with blades as big and fast as airplane propellers. The speed of the development and the extensive damage it caused became an issue wherever the drillers were working. A task force of senior administrators at the Michigan Department of Natural Resources concluded in 1992 that the pace of the drilling was outstripping the agency's ability to adequately protect communities and the environment. Despite these findings, the state has continued to lease hundreds of thousands of acres of public land each year for drilling and to approve nearly every permit application that comes before it. The industry maintains its considerable influence in the Legislature, the Governor's Office, and the regulatory agencies. In 1992 alone, more than 2,000 drilling permits were issued -- this year, as of August 31, the number is 400. (continued on next page)