New Drilling Rules Fall Short of Fracking Ban

By Beth Dalbey (Patch Staff)

After a drilling rig popped up overnight, Shelby Township residents brought the drilling to a halt until the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality could adopt new rules. Due to take effect immediately, the rules don’t resolve their concerns, activists say. (Photo via Citizens Against Residential Drilling Facebook)

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Activists who protested gas and oil drilling operations in Rochester Hills, Shelby Township and elsewhere in southeast Michigan say new rules requiring more advance notice of exploration activities do little to allay their concerns.

The Department of Environmental Quality’s new rules, which also direct gas and exploration companies to take additional safety precautions when looking to site new wells in metro Detroit, will be effective only in counties with populations of 750,000 or more – Oakland, Wayne and Macomb.

DEQ spokesman Brad Wurfel told The Detroit News the agency’s hands are tied, and officials can’t altogether ban drilling, including the horizontal drilling method known as fracking.

“Drilling is specifically protected by law from local bans,” said Brad Wurfel, spokesman for the DEQ. “In that context, we’ve done a lot of good work toward addressing the issues and trying to make sure everyone’s interest is addressed.

“To the folks that simply want to see no oil and gas exploration in Michigan, we know that won’t be enough.”

Tell Us:

• Michigan state law protects gas and drilling operations from local bans. Do you support that law, or do you think it should be changed?

Denis Demak, a Shelby Township resident and member of the Citizens Against Residential Drilling, which had one representative on the panel that drafted the new rules, said the news rules are ineffective.

“Anything of substance, such as setbacks or residential zoning, the group did not address or discuss,” Demak said. “The stuff that would really help homeowners around the state ... was never put into the recommendations.”

The new rules were developed in response to a spate of citizen uprisings against drilling operations in Demak’s township, Rochester Hills and Scio Township, outside of Ann Arbor. Among the added rules and precautions:

• Notify property owners within 1,320 feet of a new well, along with local government officials and state legislators;
• Study alternate locations;
• Install noise- and light-shielding apparatus; and
• In residential drilling operations, install at least one groundwater well to monitor for possible contamination.

In Rochester Hills, the “Don’t Drill the Hills” grassroots citizen group sued the city for granting leasing rights to park and cemetery land, citing violation of a citizen-backed charter amendment that required a vote before a land use. A judge tossed out the lawsuit, but the group said it would appeal.

In August, residents shut down a drilling operation in Shelby Township after months of festering tensions. The West Bay Installation Co., which had installed a rig in a densely populated subdivision, said the shutdown was for an indefinite period of time.

To be a “good partner in the community,” the company said, “it is clear that we need to work with neighbors and state officials to address concerns that are being raised before moving forward.”

Drilling opponents had tried to amend the state law, but that effort failed during December’s lame-duck session after business interests mounted a heavy oppositions.

Also on this topic on Patch:

• Don’t Drill the Hills to Appeal Judge’s Decision to Toss Lawsuit
• Judge Dismisses Rochester Hills Fracking Lawsuit
• Don’t Drill the Hills Sues Over Leases for Fracking in City Parks, Cemetery
• Rochester Hills Calls Hasty Session for Moratorium on Fracking
• City Moves to Prevent Oil and Gas Drilling in Rochester Hills
• Fracking Town Hall Meeting for One Community Wednesday, Drilling Lawsuit Hearing for Another
• Does Money Magazine Know About Fracking in Rochester Hills? Letter to the Editor
• Fracking Moratoriums Idle Drilling Equipment - At Least Temporarily
• Fracking: Township Officials Trying to Get Ahead of ‘Fast-Moving Train’

The bills were introduced by Sen. Jack Brandenburg, a Republican from Shelby Township, rigs popped up literally overnight.

The legislation would have given townships with populations of 70,000 or more the same zoning authority over such activity as villages and cities currently have. Only Canton Township in Wayne County, Waterford Township in Oakland County, and Clinton, Macomb and Shelby townships in Macomb County would have been affected.

“No township has the ability to pass zoning ordinances that apply to drilling,” Bradenburg said. “If you’re a city, it’s an entirely different ballgame.”

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