Fracking, the practice of pumping chemical-laced water underground to fracture the rock, has been practiced in Michigan for decades. (Photo by Heather Rousseau)
Just two years ago Michigan was well on its way to becoming Pennsylvania West — following in that state's footsteps as the next hotbed of natural gas exploration and production.
Since that time, the plummeting price of natural gas and concerns over the technology used to extract it — hydraulic fracturing — have brought the expected boom to a standstill.
"There is so much gas that we already (know) can be produced cheaply that exploring new areas and trying to commercialize them has ground to a halt everywhere," industry analyst Amber McCullagh said.
Despite that lull in production, the debate over natural gas has never been more intense — a high-stakes battle that could dictate the future terms of gas production when prices rebound.
That fight is playing out in Michigan's Legislature as well as the courts. Lawmakers have a spate of bills to consider that put restrictions on hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking." One citizens' group based in Charlevoix is trying to give voters the option of banning the practice outright. A new lawsuit filed in Ingham County seeks to force Michigan's Department of Environmental Quality to apply regulations on the books for injection wells to hydraulic fracturing.
The Detroit News
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