Research finds public lands in danger

From the western dunes to the northern forests, Michigan’s natural landscapes provide us with unique beauty, recreation, and ecological value. Unfortunately, oil and gas drilling poses an increasing threat to these treasured lands. Leaks from drilling sites can leave soil and groundwater contaminated with hazardous waste, and new pipelines and roads for drilling sites can disrupt the places that Michigan’s wildlife call home.

Already, hundreds of thousands of acres of state land are open to drilling and as oil and gas prices reach new heights, industry lobbyists are pressing Lansing decision-makers to open tens of thousands of new acres to exploration and production every year.

Those were the findings of a new report released by Environment Michigan Research and Policy Center in March.

Report highlights at-risk lands

“Drilling Our Conservation Heritage” found that thousands of acres of state-owned land are leased to oil and gas companies for development and are at risk of pollution and habitat destruction.

What’s more, there is little information available to the public and no ability for citizens to hold the oil and gas industry accountable for its track record on state lands, where spills and leaks can go unnoticed and unattended for years, tainting natural resources and endangering wildlife. All available evidence strongly indicates that the state’s environmental agency lacks the resources to monitor the 18,000 gas and oil wells operating in Michigan and the cleanup of all contaminated sites, much less any new drilling that might be proposed.

State action needed

The state must take action in order to protect Michigan’s conservation heritage—its public lands—from the harmful consequences of its flawed oil and gas regulatory structure.
Our report proposes five steps to do just that:

1. The state must halt new leases for oil and gas development on state lands until ecologically sensitive natural areas have been identified and protected.

2. Michigan must utilize its existing state land protection authorities, such as the Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) oil and gas leasing policies, and the Wilderness and Natural Areas Act of 1972 to protect ecologically sensitive state lands from oil and gas development.

3. Oil and gas companies must be required to provide adequate financial support for the effective supervision of their activities.

4. Oversight of contaminated oil and gas site cleanups should be transferred from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality’s Office of Geological Survey (OGS) to its Remediation and Redevelopment Division (RRD), which has primary responsibility for overseeing environmental cleanup in the state.

5. Annual progress reports on the state’s oil and gas program should be required regarding its adequacy at protecting state lands from harmful oil and gas development.