Winter 2011 Number 60 THE RIVERWATCH THE QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER OF THE ANGLERS OF THE AU SABLE SPECIAL REPORT ON OIL & GAS FROM THE EDITOR THE RIVERWATCH The RIVERWATCH is a quarterly pub- lication of The Anglers of the Au Sable, VISIT WEBSITE FOR a non-profit corporation dedicated to the UPDATES ON KOLKE protection of the Au Sable River, its wa- tershed and surrounding environs. Dues CREEK AND THE are $25 per year. For membership please contact: SUPREME COURT The Anglers of the Au Sable P.O. Box 200 As RIVERWATCH 60 goes to press the outcome of the re- Grayling, MI 49738 hearing for the Kolke Creek Case is unknown. Please go to www.AuSableAnglers.org www.ausableanglers.org for updates on Attorney General Bill Schuette’s attempt to overturn the Court’s recent rulings. Also, let AG Schuette and Governor Rick Snyder know what you think about this action. Governor Rick Snyder DIRECTORS (517-373-3400 President [email protected]) Bruce Pregler, Rochester Hills, MI First Vice President Tom Baird, Diamondale, MI Attorney General Bill Schuette Second Vice President John Bebow, Milan, MI (517-373-1110 Treasurer Pat Dwyer, Rochester, MI [email protected]) Secretary Karen Harrison, Frederic, MI Directors Wayne Blessing, Ann Arbor, MI Don Boyd, Wayland, MI Thomas Buhr, Luzerne, MI Dick Daane, Ann Arbor, MI (Emeritus) John Dallas, Troy, MI Alan Diodore, Grayling, MI Dan Drislane, Emigrant, MT (Emeritus) Jay Gleason, Huntersville, NC (Emeritus) Josh Greenberg, Grayling, MI Joe Hemming, Beverly Hills, MI Mark Hendricks, Grayling, MI Bruce Johnson, Rochester, MI Terry Lyons, Perry, MI Ed McGlinn, Farmington Hills, MI (Emeritus) Tess Nelkie, Tawas City, MI John Novak, Grayling, MI Dennis Potter, Grayling, MI John Russell, Traverse City, MI Don Sawyer, Okemos, MI Dean Schmitt, Toledo, OH Jim Schramm, Pentwater, MI Jim Shiflett, Grand Ledge, MI John Walters, Vanderbilt, MI Lance Weyeneth, Gaylord, MI John Wylie, Grayling, MI 2 FROM THE EDITOR OIL & GAS 2.0 In the last decade Anglers sons to be optimistic. The oil spill on the Kalamazoo of the Au Sable has become im- River is instructive as to what we On the heels of the Savoy case mersed in the issue of oil and can expect on the Au Sable if Line came Kolke Creek. The issues of gas use in Michigan. Through 5, crossing about a mile above how to properly remediate the two court cases we have become Parmalee Bridge, ever springs a Hayes 22 central processing facil- aware of the impact on the re- leak. ity had statewide ramifications. source by these activities. Many The case of Merit Energy’s vio- A year ago how many knew of us thought that we had seen it lations of the Michigan Environ- what fracking was other then it all, but there was even more to the mental Protection Act (MEPA) ul- sounded indecent? With the re- story. Now, as we enter the second timately led to the State Supreme cent unprecedented sale of leases decade of the 21st century, new Court. for natural gas exploration by the threats to our forests and streams State, coupled with rumblings in have come to our attention. Everyone who cherished clean the Middle East, this “revolution- coldwater won a victory last De- Back in the summer of 2003 ary” method for gas extraction cember when the Court sided with it seemed so very simple; stop the may become as common as a nut- Anglers in that case, and reversed exploratory well near the Mason hatch in our forests. Its impact on two key previous rulings regard- Chapel. On its face the idea of our supply and quality of ground- ing citizens rights to challenge allowing a wellhead and central water is open to much debate. MDEQ permits for water use. processing facility so near an area These gains in protection of our Mr. Alexander, with the help both environmentally sensitive water resource from improper use of Board Member, John Bebow, and popular with outdoor recre- by the oil and gas industry as well himself an investigative reporter, ationists seemed preposterous. as other entities may be short- thoroughly examined these and Yet, we watched the U.S. Forest lived. If the newly reconstituted other issues salient to our conser- Service twist the National Envi- State Supreme Court, now con- vation goals as we move forward. ronmental Protection Act (NEPA) servative in tone, has its say then They conclude with a set of rec- into a pretzel trying to allow and we are living in a Prague Spring. ommendations that we will study defend Savoy’s right to drill. closely while planning a response. And now comes RIVER- Those were dark days. It was WATCH 60 – A Special Report Those who love our clean and unclear whether the courts would on Oil & Gas. Investigative re- pristine rivers and streams should see the breaches of statute as porter, Jeff Alexander, well ex- read this report carefully, and then clearly as we did. perienced with Michigan and the share it with a friend or family In the end the courts sided with region’s environmental woes, has member. We need to educate our- us. It was a satisfying victory, but uncovered and brought into focus selves in order to best respond to tempered by Savoy’s continued threats both old and new. whatever may come next. There intent to drill. An Environmental will be strength in numbers. While we labored on the Sa- Impact Statement (EIS) – some- voy and Merit Energy cases, few Welcome to Oil & Gas 2.0. thing we wanted from the start – of us paid attention to the network It’s time to upgrade our resolve as will guide any activities this time of pipelines spread across North- well to protect the Pure Michigan around. There are plenty of rea- ern Michigan like a spider web. we love so dearly. - THOMAS BUHR, RIVERWATCH EDITOR 3 BIOS - CONTENTS BIOS Jeff Alexander is an award winning author and a former envi- ronmental journalist. He covered Great Lakes issues for 20 years for several Michigan news- papers, most recently for The Muskegon Chronicle. He is now self-employed and writes for several nonprofit organizations, including the National Wildlife Federation. He is the author of two books: “The Muskegon: The Majesty and Tragedy of Michigan’s Rarest River” and “Pan- dora’s Locks: The Opening of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway.” He resides in Grand Haven. John Bebow is 2nd VP of Anglers of the Au Sable. In his day job, he’s executive director of the Center for Michigan, a nonpartisan “think and do tank” focused on public policy, public engagement and in-depth journalism. He previously served as an inves- tigative reporter at the Chicago Tribune, Detroit News & Free Press, Ann Arbor News, and Traverse City Record-Eagle and as a founding editor at Mlive.com. He was embedded with the U.S. Marines in Iraq in 2003 on behalf of the Detroit News/Gannett Newspapers. He is a fre- quent contributor to public radio and television and appears as a public speaker before a wide range of professional/trade associations. He holds a MBA with distinction from University of Michigan and lives in Milan with his wife, Monica, and 6-year-old daughter, Delaney. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction . page 5 Oil Pipelines . page 8 Natural Gas Pipelines . page 17 Oil and Gas Wells . .page 20 Hydraulic Fracturing. .page 26 Recommendations for Follow-up Action . .page 36 FOIA Summary . page 38 4 INTRODUCTION ANGLERS’ VIGILANCE A MUST FOR RIVERS TO THRIVE WHILE OIL & GAS INDUSTRY AGES AND GROWS IN NORTHERN MICHIGAN For many, the to further safeguard mere mention of the Au Sable from a the Au Sable River pipeline mishap. conjures images of The upper half of a sublime stream, the Au Sable River its waters sparsely watershed also may occupied by fly an- become a focal point glers casting toward for the drilling of wily trout. deep shale wells us- The Au Sable ing a controversial River watershed, a technique known as 1,932-square mile The Au Sable River, east of Grayling. Photo by Jeff Alexander hydraulic fracturing, drainage basin that or fracking. supports one of Department of Natural Resources State data indicate that the America’s premier trout streams and Environment. (http://bit.ly/ three counties in the upper wa- and a robust recreational econo- heoIOc) tershed — Otsego, Crawford and my, is not widely known as one of The largest oil pipeline in the Roscommon — sit atop some of Michigan’s major oil and natural Midwest also bisects the heart of the thickest deposits of Colling- gas producing regions. the Au Sable watershed. The 645- wood shale gas in northern Mich- Indeed, it is. mile long Enbridge Energy pipe- igan. (Unconventional Shale line extends from Superior, Wis., Gas Development in Michigan,” The Au Sable River water- to Sarnia, Ontario and carries up by Mel Kiogima, MDNR, June shed sits atop some of Michigan’s to 22 million gallons of crude oil 2010, http://bit.ly/gURoeK) most productive oil and natural and natural gas liquids beneath gas reserves. The lucrative geo- Hydraulic fracturing uses mil- the Au Sable River on a daily logic formations beneath the wa- lions of gallons of water mixed basis. It’s a 58-year-old pipeline tershed — particularly beneath with sand and thousands of gal- owned by the same company that the counties of Otsego, Crawford lons of toxic chemicals to frac- is under intense scrutiny for a July and Roscommon counties — have ture deep shale reserves, a tech- 2010 pipeline break that spewed spurred intense drilling activity nology that allows more natural 843,000 gallons of crude oil into over the past 75 years.