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January 31, 1999Stupak attacks Engler on Lakes drillingState supports directional oil, gas extractionBy BILL O'BRIENRecord-Eagle staff writer TRAVERSE CITY - Congressman Bart Stupak is clashing again with the Engler administration, this time over the support of state top regulators for directional oil and gas drilling under the Great Lakes. Stupak on Friday criticized Gov. John Engler and other officials from the Department of Environmental Quality for supporting a Michigan-led resolution backing oil and gas extraction from beneath the Great Lakes. The resolution was approved by the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission at its annual meeting last month in Salt Lake City. The IOGCC is a group of 29 oil-producing states that promotes public policy on oil and gas production. Federal legislation proposed by Stupak would ban drilling for gas and oil beneath the Great Lakes, while state officials counter that the practice can be done safely and that the federal government should stay out of the issue. "One of the (commission's) big pushes is that states should be looking at their own oil and gas issues," said John King, who supervises the petroleum engineering section for the Michigan Public Service Commission. King supported the resolution with Hal Fitch, the DEQ's supervisor of wells and DEQ director Russell Harding. State officials said the multi-state commission feels the best approach to the directional drilling issue is to seek consistent regulations from all states on the Great Lakes. "We have conferred with other states and they feel we're doing the right thing too," Fitch said. "We have some domestic resources here (oil and gas) that can be very beneficial if they're properly developed." Stupak counters that the state's push for directional drilling is particularly puzzling in the midst of a world-wide oil glut and low fuel prices throughout the country. "Is it necessary to drill in the lakes right now? I don't think so," Stupak said. "The oil and gas industry does not own the Great Lakes and the State of Michigan does not own the Great Lakes ... obviously our legislation has struck a nerve and we're on to something." Stupak also dismisses the sovereignty arguments advanced by state officials. "It's anything but a state's rights issue," he said. "If an accident happens, how long does it take for something like that to work its way through the whole (Great Lakes) system?" Fitch says that directional drilling around bodies of water and environmentally sensitive areas is done safely throughout the country and is widespread in Canada. The Canadian government even allows off-shore drilling in the Great Lakes, although there are currently no plans for the IOGCC to support those kinds of rigs in this country, he said. State officials also feel Stupak's opposition to Great Lakes drilling is inconsistent with current federal energy policies. "We feel it's very contradictory of the federal government to say we can't drill from off-shore when its supporting off-shore drilling in other areas," Fitch said, citing Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico as two examples where the federal government allows underwater drilling. "They've promoted the development of those facilities," he said. Stupak concedes that at some point it may become necessary to tap the oil reserves beneath the Great Lakes, but that it isn't warranted now. "I'm not focusing just on Michigan," Stupak said. "I'm looking at the whole Great Lakes region and asking the Canadian government to look at its practices as well." Fitch says even if the state eventually agrees to lease Great Lakes bottomlands to allow directional drilling, he's not anticipating a big rush of interest. "We're not encouraging wholesale development of this at all," Fitch said. "We're not seeing many applications to drill for oil anywhere in Michigan. But at some time in the future, that could change." If market changes start to increase demand for domestic oil exploration, Fitch says the states want to be ready to handle it. "We just want to see it's done with the proper rules and regulations," he said. The congressman doesn't want to see it done at all and feels the state's environmental regulators should turn their attention elsewhere. "I just wish they'd devote that much time to regulating the industry," Stupak said. |
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