Parks, Open Spaces, Wild Places Reports

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Executive Summary

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 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.

Environment Michigan Research & Policy Center undertook the investigation and writing of this report to assess the state’s ability to address this rising risk to Michigan’s natural heritage and to recommend stronger policies, or implementation of existing policies, as needed.

Our research indicates that current policies and practices leave Michigan’s state lands vulnerable to damage by oil and gas drilling:

1. Thousands of acres of state owned lands are leased for oil and gas development and at risk of pollution and habitat destruction.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Policies, statutes and tools are readily available to afford increased protection to state lands from harmful oil and gas development.

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.

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.

For all other sites, the Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Natural Resources should:

• Provides full public reporting on all sites in state lands and on contaminated sites. This data should be provided in an accessible format – including a statewide map with
  identification of potentially impacted natural resources such as forests, waterways, and recreation areas.
• Hire additional staff to monitor and inspect all future state lands to be leased.
• Establish a public oversight committee or process that reflects protection of Michigan’s natural resources as its primary mission and encompasses strict conflict of interest rules – no one with employment or contractual relations with any private entity with a
  pecuniary interest in leasing decisions may serve on the OGS public advisory entity.