We had a good presence at the DEQ public hearings in Gaylord and Lansing on July 15 & 16. Many great comments offered by volunteers in our campaign. Here are the public comments made by campaign director LuAnne Kozma: July 15-16, 2014 Individual comments by LuAnne Kozma, Charlevoix, to DEQ, Fracking Rules Hearing LuAnne Kozma. Charlevoix. President of the non-profit group Ban Michigan Fracking and campaign director for the ballot question committee, Committee to Ban Fracking in Michigan. Last year over 70,000 Michigan voters signed the Committee’s petition to NOT REGULATE fracking but to BAN it outright, ban the wastes generated from fracking from coming into our state from other places, and also eliminate the statutory language the DEQ currently must abide by, which is to “… foster the development of the [oil and gas] industry along the most favorable conditions and with a view to the ultimate recovery of the maximum production of these natural products.” That’s MCL 324.61502, “Construction of Part” that governs the entirety of Part 615, the oil and gas law or, regulations. No DEQ rule, proposed now or in the near future, can go against that statute. All your proposed administrative rules foster the industry quite favorably. Chemicals will contaminate water. Large amounts of toxic wastes will be created. The frack industry will pollute the air with the greenhouse gas methane and toxic chemicals. All injection well casings and frack well casings WILL leak in time. Aquifers will become contaminated. People will become sick. Animals will sicken and die. Farms will become unfarmable. Landowners will get fracked first, pooled later. People will lose drinkable water, sue the companies and move from their homes. No matter what rules you apply. Whether you disclose chemicals or not. Whether you baseline test water or not. Whether you keep this industry from some trout streams or not. Whether you frack people before pooling them or frack people after pooling them. These are just some of the reasons why regulated fracking is “lose-lose” for the health and safety of the people of Michigan and the environment. It’s a rigged system in favor of industry. And DEQ is the very definition of a captured agency. Regarding changing MCL 324.61502, “Construction of Part”: [DEQs] Hal Fitch can’t change it. This hearing can’t change it. The governor can’t. Only the legislature can change it, and the People can change it by ballot initiative. It’s been in state law since the 1930s. I state this because I want it in the record: It is now 2014. 75 years later. Global warming has been upon us for some time, and time is running out for the human species to make up its mind on which energy to use and whether or not we’ll have a livable planet for future generations. Catastrophic impacts are here and on the viewable horizon. There are too many voices making the false—and deadly—choice promoting methane over coal. The new IPCC reports—Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which consists of the world’s climate change scientists who have been meeting and studying it for decades—tell us that natural gas, which is mostly methane, is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide: 86 times more potent in a 20-year time frame and 125 times more potent in a 10-year time frame. And it’s the next 10 years that matter most. If Michigan continues down this path with regulated fracking and fostering the industry and maximizing production, replacing coal with natural gas in the next 10 years, it is worse for the planet than coal and oil. IPCC also says there is no longer any scientific reason to compare uses of energy using a 100-year time period. It’s time to stop fostering the gas and oil/fossil fuel industry in Michigan, stop maximizing oil and gas production and stop maximizing global warming. There is no way to “get fracking right.” There is no way to “make fracking safe or safer.” There are no “adequate safeguards.” Even the “best regulated” frack industry is a climate-destroying fossil fuel extraction process. We Michiganders are not and cannot be satisfied by regulated fracking, because it is still fracking. I’m not here to help tweak your favorable-to-industry rules and regulations, I’m here to speak to them, because most tweaks do not do the real job that needs to get done by the people. It’s time for the people of Michigan to make the State of Michigan foster humankind and the natural world that sustains us all, along the most favorable conditions for sustained life on Earth. Those looking to join us in this effort to ban fracking and end Michigan’s endgame death dance with the gas and oil industry can find us at letsbanfracking.org.
Posted on: Fri, 18 Jul 2014 18:59:07 +0000
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