The next meeting of Don’t Frack Michigan will be on Thursday, June 14, 2012 at 7 pm. The location is at Horizon Books 319 E. Mitchell Street, Petoskey Michigan, in the basement.  Everyone is welcome.

Kevin Heatley is a senior scientist at Biohabitats, Inc. and tech consultant for Responsible Drilling Alliance in Wiliamspot, Pa.His presentation draws on the experience in Louisiana where environmental impacts by the gas and oil industry have been severe, and the cost of remediation externalized.

CHESAPEAKE ENERGY CORP(CHK) 10-K Annual report pursuant to section 13 and 15(d)Filed on 03/01/2011. Check out bottom paragraph of page 22, Operating Hazards and Insurance. People who lease their property don’t have to be told this information.

Un•earthed: Setting the track record straight -
A video exposing a flawed claim often abused in the sales pitch for promoting shale gas development across the world:
“With a history of 60 years, after nearly a million wells drilled, there are no documented cases that hydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’) has lead to the contamination of groundwater.”
Brought to you by the team behind the upcoming South African feature documentary, Un•earthed, that is investigating natural gas development and the controversial method of extraction known as “fracking” from a global perspective. Should South Africa and other countries drill down?

The Big Fracking Bubble: The Scam Behind the Gas Boom

It’s not only toxic – it’s driven by a right-wing billionaire who profits more from flipping land than drilling for gas.

 By Jeff Goodell March 1, 2012 8:00 AM ET

Aubrey McClendon, America’s second-largest producer of natural gas, has never
been afraid of a fight. He has become a billionaire by directing his company,
Chesapeake Energy, to blast apart gas-soaked rocks a mile underground and pump the fuel to the surface. “We’re the biggest frackers in the world,” he declares
proudly over a $400 bottle of French Bordeaux at a restaurant he co-owns in his
hometown of Oklahoma City. “We frack all the time. What’s the big deal?” Read more

Published on Thursday, April 5, 2012 by Common Dreams

Report implicates oil and natural gas drilling, aka fracking

MSU Extension offers an Oil & Gas newsletter that explains there will be changes when fracking comes to your community, but it’s OK as long as you’re financially compensated for poisoned water and killed livestock. Huh? Newsletter here

For example, XTO Energy Corp., a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corp., the nation’s leading
natural gas producer, has told its investors for years that:
“Our operations are subject to inherent hazards and risks, such as fire, explosions,
blowouts, formations with abnormal pressures, uncontrollable flows of
underground gas, oil and formation water and environmental hazards such as gas
leaks and oil spills. Any of these events could cause a loss of hydrocarbons,
pollution or other environmental damage, clean- up responsibilities, regulatory
investigations and penalties, suspension of operations, personal injury claims, loss
of life, damage to our properties, or damage to the property of others . . . As
protection against operating hazards, we maintain insurance coverage against
some, but not all, potential losses. We do not believe that insurance coverage for
all environmental damages that could occur is available at a reasonable cost. We
believe that our insurance is adequate and customary for companies of similar size
and operation, but losses could occur for uninsured risks or in amounts exceeding
existing coverage. The occurrence of an event that is not fully covered by insurance
could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.”

Exceprt from The Environmental Working Group comments on New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s  revised draft supplemental generic environmental impact statement.  Read the complete document.

Drilling Doublespeak : Gas Drillers Disclose Risks to Shareholders – But Not to Landowners.

At what point does preliminary evidence of harm become definitive evidence of harm? When someone says, “We were not aware of the dangers of these chemicals back then,” whom do they mean by we?
—Sandra Steingraber,Living Downstream (Da Capo Press, 2010)

“Without rigorous scientific studies, the gas drilling boom sweeping the world will remain an uncontrolled health experiment on an enormous scale.”

“Without complete studies, given the many apparent adverse impacts on human and animal health, a ban on shale gas drilling is essential for the protection of public health.”

 Read the rest of the article here

Letter from the Don’t Frack Michigan Co-Chairs

 Labor Day weekend found us at the annual Mackinac Bridge Walk.  We were there to pass out our educational materials.  There was no direction as to where to set up so we chose a place where people filed by us to board a bus for the walk. 

We witnessed the range of reactions to the word Fracking as they saw our big” Don’t Frack Michigan” banner.  “What’s Fracking?”  was  the most common one.  We didn’t push our material on anyone, but many reached for them. Some were angry.  “How did you get here? Drive?  Don’t you want what’s best for America?  We had to inform them this natural gas from fracking was sold on the international market, it’s not targeted for American use.  We were outside our comfort zone, but at the end of the day felt that education is powerful, and that is what Don’t Frack Michigan is about.

Joanne & Mary

Christmas Eve gas leak identified as toxic hydrogen sulfide

CRAWFORD COUNTY — Eighty percent of the gas spewed from a Beaver Creek Township
well early Christmas Eve morning was hydrogen sulfide, a poisonous byproduct of
natural gas production. More

Gas well leak creates odor across Northern    Michigan

A little after midnight on the day of Christmas Eve in Crawford County, at the Beaver Creek #5 Claude Seely 5 HD 1 Gas Injection Well, a valve failure sent a plume of toxic hydrogen sulfide gas across Northern Michigan. The gas traveled from the Breitburn Energy Partners injection well south of Grayling across Michigan and as far as Canada for about 4 hours. Hydrogen Sulfide gas, or sour gas, is deadly. At relatively low concentrations, it is detected by the rotten egg smell of mercaptans occurring within the hydrogen sulfide gas. High levels of Hydrogen Sulfide gas destroy olfactory senses and thus H2S ceases to be detectable when toxicity is high.

When sensors at the Beaver Creek Injection Well Site detected a blown needle valve, the gas plant was shut down automatically, but the sensors should also have shut the injection well boreout, but did not. H2S gase returning from the injection well escaped back up though a ¼ inch hole. Winds carried the gas north. Because H2S is heavier than air, it is deadly when undissipated high concentrations drop in a localized area. This can also make well repairs treacherous. Complaints from citizens as far as Petoskey and Cheboygan and emergency notification to the DEQ sent emergency crews to the site. Christmas Eve winds made repairs less dangerous. Crews worked to replace the valve and contacted area hospitals and fire and police. They also contacted 9 & 10 News.

Special emergency, evacuation and contingency plans in areas where Hydrogen Sulfide gas may be encountered must be in place to notify all residences within 1300 feet and to inform first responders. Site specific operating and emergency procedures are part of the Contingency Plan.

more

MichiganReport-HydrogenSulfideReleases

- Dana Schindler

Eerily familiar at this point in time……

“because no alarm sounded” and the uncalibrated monitors did not record H2S emissions “over a length of time”, therefore, there had not been a release which would have caused the negative health effects

DEQ’s Rick Henderson was quoted in the 5/13/99 Ludington Daily News as saying that “No laws were violated, only a small amount of H2S was released…it’s a fairly routine thing. It’s really not a big deal.”

Fast forward to Dec 2011……..

BREAKING: Ohio Governor Halts Four More Fracking Wastewater Injection Wells After Yesterday’s Quake

Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler Warns Landowners: Before Signing a Mineral Rights Lease, Check Your Mortgage

Tony Ingraffea Hydrofracking Myth #4 of 4

Other Hydrofracking Myths videos on video page

      Situation Normal All Fracked Up

By ELIZA GRISWOLD Published: November 20, 2011

U.S. Government Confirms Link Between Earthquakes and Hydraulic Fracturing

These are the companies we are supposed to trust with fracking in northern Michigan?

Energy giant hid behind shells in “land grab”

(Reuters) – Late in the summer of 2010, hundreds of farmers in northern Michigan were fuming. All had signed leases with local brokers permitting drillers to tap natural gas and oil beneath their land. All were demanding thousands of dollars in bonuses they had been promised in exchange. But none knew for certain whom to go after.

More

DEQ website where gas & oil wells can be viewed Drilling Unit Maps by County

DEQ website where gas & oil permits can be viewed - Online Oil and Gas Information System

Material Safety Data Sheets and other info - Hydraulic Fracturing in Michigan.

List of Utica-Collingwood wells in Nothern Michigan, 23 so far, updated 5/15/2012, (These wells will be fracked, and millions of gallons of water will be contaminated and pumped into injection wells). 10 new permits for wells have just been applied for and added to this list.

 Map of Utica-Collingwood permits,granted, applied-for, in Northern Michigan as of 5/15/12. One to come near you soon.

Click on Image for Larger Permit Map.      

Michigan regulators claim:

“Michigan is leaps and bounds ahead of other states as far as gas and oil regulations, and is much more stringent than other states where
groundwater contamination and other problems have occurred.”

Pennsylvania regulators claim: “Pennsylvania has the strongest enforcement program of any state with gas drilling. Period.”

Both of these statements cannot be true. Don’t Frack Michigan
says neither is true.

The Pioneer 1-3 well in Missaukee County. Source: Tip Of The Mitt Watershed Council

Facts on Fracking – How Safe is it