Fear of Fracking: Residents wonder whether to allow deep drilling on their land By Anne Stanton In the course of a few weeks, a Leelanau Township landowner was approached by landmen representing 10 different natural gas companies. They were pressuring him to sign a lease that would allow natural gas drilling on his property. Some weren’t so polite. Since early May, landmen have approached Northern Michigan homeowners for natural gas drilling rights. The landmen, mostly local folks, are representing companies such as Encana, a Canadian company and one of the largest natural gas producers in the world, according to the state Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DNRE). John Herrold of Leelanau County said he was offered a signing bonus of $50 an acre for 158 acres that he put into a conservation easement a few years ago (he wrote into the agreement that he would retain petroleum extraction rights). “The landman told me, ‘You won’t hardly know we’re here.’ I’m paraphrasing, but it’s pretty close. He said, ‘You can even tell us where you want to drill.’ I told them, ‘I have a real sensitive nose, and I can smell the gas wells when I drive by them.’ He was very reassuring. ‘We’ve conquered that. You won’t be able to smell it.’ He told me they want to lease as much property in Centerville as they can.”
GAS BOOM Michigan is now facing a potential natural gas boom that’s unprecedented in the state’s history. Statistics tell the story. On May 4, the State of Michigan auctioned off leases to drill on 118,117 acres in 21 counties. The highest bids—reaching $3,340 per acre—went for land in Charlevoix County, said Mary Dettloff, a DNRE spokeswoman. “For an historic perspective, the state has been tracking auction totals for public lands since 1929, and from 1929 until the May 4 auction, the total amount of money received by the state at oil and gas lease auctions was $190 million. The May 4 auction made $178 million in one day,” Detloff said. “I do think it will be unprecedented and may provide a greater economic stimulus in Northern Michigan, more than anything we’ve seen in a long time,” said David Potreous, an attorney in Reed City, who has helped craft oil and gas leases for homeowners over the last three decades. “The thing for landowners is to be very careful and cautious about the lease terms and the relative impact it could have on their land. Every situation is different and everyone should consult with a lawyer who specializes in gas and oil before they ever sign a lease.”
FRACKING The recent excitement owes to an exploratory drill site in Missaukee County that showed promise of the Utica Collingwood shale. Unlike the shallow Antrim County shale, the Utica shale lies at a depth of one to two miles. To pry the natural gas from the shale requires hydraulic fracturing—called fracking—that involves tremendous pressure of one to eight million gallons of water per well and close to 600 chemicals, the identity of which companies refuse to divulge. Once the well is drilled, the company recaptures about 70% of the fracking water, leaving about a third under the earth. A cement seal protects the site as the brine and poisoned water returns to the surface. After the mammoth drill is taken down, the pumping continues for 30 to 40 years. “It’s a big boy play,” said Warren Baumann, a petroleum engineer of Suttons Bay who said that most of Michigan’s 100 or so natural gas companies were priced out of the action. “The drilling, testing and completion of these wells are going to cost many, many millions of dollars, and the payback could be very long, and most small companies cannot invest that kind of money. “These huge companies are doing test borings, seismic surveys and whatnot to see what’s there, and a lot of it is kept under high secrecy. The only thing we know for sure is one well was drilled in Missaukee County and showed promise, and that’s the only thing. So in my opinion, the verdict is still way out there if it’s going to be economical or not.” Concurrent to the natural gas find, horror stories of natural gas fracking have also emerged. The documentary, Gasland, was just released on HBO, and captured on video the most high profile incidents, such as the plight of residents in Dimock Township, Pennsylvania, where a water well exploded on New Year’s Day in 2009, contaminating the drinking water of 14 homes. A state investigation revealed that Cabot Oil & Gas Company “had allowed combustible gas to escape into the region’s groundwater supplies.” Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation has been banned from further drilling in the entire state until it plugs wells believed to be the source of contamination. Most recently, a well blew out on June 3 at the Punxsutawney Hunting Club grounds in Pennsylvania, spewing 35,000 gallons of natural gas and polluted water into a 75-foot fountain for 16 hours. The water also reached surrounding forestland, forcing the evacuation of campers. An emergency team from Texas was delayed by weather, but once they arrived, it took only about an hour to cap the well, according to published reports.
MICHIGAN REGULATIONS Yet Marty Lagina, a natural gas veteran who is now pursuing wind energy, doesn’t believe Michigan drinking wells are at risk. The state has some of the toughest regulations in the country, and the wells are drilled so deep—one to two miles—that the chance of migrating natural gas to water wells is nil. (See his interview in last week’s Express article.) Hal Fitch, who heads the state’s Office of Geological Survey, the state’s overseer of the gas, oil and mining industry, agreed that Michigan has stiff regulations, but acknowledged there is always a potential for accidents, particularly at the surface. “We start with a permitting process—they have to give us all the specifications on how to case and cement the well, the blow-up preventers, proper containment on the surface to allay problems. You’ll never eliminate all opportunities for risks, but you can reduce it to an acceptable level. We have some of the toughest regulations of any of the states, and inspectors go out to every site. If we find a problem, we pursue enforcement.”
HERE WE GO AGAIN With the biomass controversy put on the back burner in Traverse City because of health concerns and public opposition, natural gas drilling will likely take center stage. For each drilling site, millions of gallons of water will get drawn out from the earth’s depths unless a company re-uses the water. All this makes environmental attorney Jim Olson of Traverse City extremely concerned about the state’s multitude of rivers, lakes, and groundwater, which are held in the public trust. “Do the numbers. If a unit is 80 acres or 160 acres per well, divide that into a million acres and multiply by five to eight million gallons of water. How does that affect the quality of our lakes and streams? Nobody is talking about how much water this involves, and where it’s going to come from, and what it’s going to do to the water quality of our lakes and streams. Michigan is water and we’ve got to make sure we’re still a water wonderland.” Olson wants a drilling moratorium until the state does an independent environmental impact study on the cumulative impacts of all the drill sties. Fitch said no such study is planned, although companies are required to submit an environmental assessment for each drill site. “Five million gallons sounds like a lot, I don’t want to downplay it. But that number, when you put it in context, is not overpowering. It’s about how much nine acres of corn uses in a season,” Fitch said.
‘A TERRIBLE JOB’ Environmental consultant Chris Grobbel dismisses Fitch’s assurances of tight regulations. He contends that the state’s oversight department can’t be wholly relied upon. Two years ago, for example, he testified as a legal expert in the case of an organic dairy farmer in Gladwin County. “He had two releases from pipeline spills of brine, associated with crude oil. Summit Petroleum did an evacuation of impacted soil in the area, and mixed it with manure, hay and beneficial bacteria and let it bake. It leaked and contaminated the groundwater.” The resulting benzene levels were 612 times the clean-up standard. Chloride was five times the level required by the DNRE, yet the DNRE had signed off on the site. The contamination destroyed the farmer’s business, owing to his suspect milk supply. The farmer ultimately settled with the company for damages. “Here’s a case where we had to play the role of the DNRE because the DNRE wouldn’t do it. There are cases when the DNRE does a terrible job,” Grobbel said. The dairy farm was one among nearly 200 contaminated gas and oil sites listed in an DNRE October 2009 report, which Grobbel said was not readily available to the public. The report said six drinking wells were contaminated by natural gas and/or oil. “I know of at least three personally, so I’m not sure of how valid that number is,” Grobbel said. With the depths of the Utica shale, Grobbel doesn’t consider migration to groundwater as much a concern as surface spills and pipeline flaws. A particularly delicate phase is when drilling companies transfer the polluted fracking fluids and brine water to off-site deep injection wells. Grobbel said the Office of Geology is funded by the very same industry it’s charged to regulate, which presents a conflict of interest. The 60-man staff is funded from a portion of permit fees and the cash market value of the gas and oil that’s produced, Fitch confirmed. Fitch countered that his department is objective in its regulation. Its budget allocation at the beginning of the fiscal year is unchanged no matter the level of gas and oil revenues. As to lack of consistent enforcement, he said: “I would dispute that in the strongest terms.” “Those sites are from bygone eras. It’s like anything; we’ve improved our oversight and our requirements. Decades ago, the industry was allowed to discharge brine water into earthen pits, some of those are from old sites. I think if you tracked it over the years, you’d see spills and contamination issues have declined significantly. Most are cleaned up immediately; they don’t even get to the groundwater, and if they do, it’s recovered in a timely manner.”
PROTECT YOURSELF Grobbel said that Fitch’s statement doesn’t square with his experience on sites in Gladwin and Otsego counties. His advice to landowners: get an experienced gas and oil attorney to write a lease that ensures compensation in the event of pollution and contamination, as well as complete restoration of the site. Also, the lease should detail how much water will be used, notification of when and where equipment will go, and traffic regulations. Baseline measurements should be taken of water and soil, and on-site monitoring required. As landmen have fanned out across the state, the Michigan State Extension office has held informational meetings that are consistently packed by residents seeking answers. “People are standing outside trying to listen through the windows. I’ve been in Lake City, Grayling, this is the second time I’m going to Cheboygan because there was such an overflow crowd the last time,” said Susan Topp, one of the top attorneys in the state specializing in gas and oil. “This has been going on for six weeks. There have been some sad cases, where people signed and didn’t understand all that’s involved. These drill sites are five-acre well pads; they are huge. These aren’t the small little Antrim wells that you see in Northern Michigan. It takes big equipment to drill it because it’s so deep. Only two rigs in Michigan can drill down to 9,500 feet.” Topp said signing bonuses range from $50 to several thousand dollars an acre, with royalties as high as 3/16 per year. It could mean a ton of money. Ed Lennington, who owns 160 acres in Mancelona, has received natural gas royalties since the early 1990s. “Let’s put it this way, I paid $70,000 for my farm, and the gas money’s gone way past that. I got my farm free. And I’m way ahead of the game. By at least two or three times,” he said. Lennington wrote the original lease himself in 1992, holding the company to strict standards of clean-up, traffic, noise, and restoration. “Then my wife got ill, and I was raising my one last daughter, and they called me out of the blue and told me they wanted me to clean up the lease. I was busy, and I didn’t have time to give it to an attorney. What I found out later is they took out everything I had written in; it was an open lease, giving them all rights to the core of the earth and that’s why today I don’t have any rights, although I still have1/8 royalty.
‘DON’T DO IT’ “The thing people should remember, these folks are good business people, but they’ll do everything for their benefit. If there’s an extra nickel to be made, they’ll do it. It’s their responsibility for being in business. After an attorney signs a lease, you still have to keep your wits about you. They might change it to their advantage. Don’t do it.” Even if a resident chooses not to allow drilling on their land, they can still be forced into a pool of surrounding landowners and get paid royalties under state law. That’s what Carrie Weed from Leelanau County thinks she’ll do if push comes to shove. “I asked the landman how much he was proposing, and he said $30 to $50 an acre and then 1/8 of the profits for life. I said, ‘Let’s see. You’re talking $5,000 for 100 acres, and he said, ‘Yeah, that’s about it.’ And I said, ‘Wow, that’s not very much. I don’t think we’re interested.” Herrold isn’t signing a lease either—at least until he better understands the risks and benefits. Of course, if none of the exploratory wells pan out, these offers will disappear. Baumann’s advice is to go ahead and sign. “The future, it’s all up in the air, nobody knows.”
For more information on the issue, Google: Michigan State Extension Service and oil and gas leases.
Send a Press Release
