Natural gas leak in Michigan happens while images of Kalamazoo oil spill still linger

While the Enbridge oil spill happened over 7 months ago, for many of us the images of oil slicked ducks and men in hard hats wading in the river are still very vivid memories. When about a million gallons of oil leaked into the Kalamazoo River--killing animals, poisoning water, and hurting homeowner’s livelihoods—a quick and secure response plan was needed for a spill that was never supposed to happen. If we’re not careful, another spill, or leak, of potentially bigger proportions could happen again.

Last week, Michigan citizens did witness another image of potential destruction. But this time it was not a pipeline, but a well used for drilling natural gas out of the ground in Northern Michigan’s Benzie County. The technique used for drilling is called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” a method that forces a concoction of water and unidentified chemicals deep into the rock to break it and release the gas. The cement used to contain a steel sleeve where the toxic liquid is pumped apparently failed. Fortunately, an initial review found the spill of nitrogen was limited to a small area right around the well.

As drilling techniques advance and companies are finding natural gas at much deeper levels, companies are now using millions of gallons of our groundwater and significantly more undisclosed chemicals to extract the gas, making the chance for leaks and contaminated water substantially higher. Currently, companies are only required to disclose the chemicals used if there is a spill, and there are no regulations in place to keep our drinking water safe and no monitoring to prevent the wastewater from contaminating our water.

Michigan must be prepared. Though we’ve been lucky to have no reports of contaminated water so far, we must take precautions because, like it or not, the widespread expansion of deep drilling for natural gas is underway in Michigan. Many believe natural gas could be an alternative to our state's heavy reliance on coal. Environmental and conservation groups across the state, however, have responded that the increasing depths of the horizontal drilling and multi-stage process necessitate changes and increased safe guards in regulations to protect Michigan's fresh water.

In November 2010, 33 organizations signed and sent a letter to the Director of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DNRE) and the Office of Geological Survey, strongly recommending that 10 steps be taken to address shortfalls and limitations in the current Michigan regulations guiding the fracking process (see 10 steps in annotated form below).

But then, an election happened. The directorship of the agency changed. The DNRE was split into two agencies: the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). Though it’s still unclear if this split will affect safety precautions to drilling, the challenges before us remain the same. The leak in Benzie County has been “stopped and contained,” but the images of so many recent oil and gas spills, that threaten our water, still linger.

Recommended 10 steps for the DNR and the Office of Geological Survey:

• Require the use of Michigan's state-of-the-art water withdrawal assessment process for the wells, and ideally all water withdrawals for oil and gas drilling

• Develop a standard for site-specific reviews for water withdrawals associate with oil and gas drilling

• Remove exemption for oil and gas under Part 327 (large scale water withdrawals)

• Require public disclosure of chemicals used during the fracturing process

• Require the listing of constituents in permit applications for injection wells even though designated oil and gas wastes include hazardous chemicals used in fracturing process

• Increase conformance bond and financial responsibility statement requirements for the gas drilling operations and plugging the injection well

• Require seismic monitoring to ensure that hydraulic fracturing is inducing microseismic activity only within the shale gas reservoir

• Require monitoring and reporting of fracturing fluid flowback volume

• Require companies to use Best Management Practices

• Reassess rules and regulations after EPA releases results of the hydraulic fracturing study due out in 2012 and modify, if necessary

Photo Credit: Clean Water Action Michigan Mark Schmerling 2010