Committee to Ban Fracking

Todd Bazzett

Fracking is a slang term used to describe the combination of new technologies used to extract natural gas from shale formations deep in the earth. Horizontal high volume hydraulic fracking is the technical term used to distinguish it from conventional fracking that has been done for over 50 years in Michigan.

What is Fracking?

Four technologies developed to support “unconventional” shale gas development• Directional drilling • High Frac fluid Volumes• Slickwater• Multi-well Pads

Technology timeline2002 - Multi-stage slickwater fracturing of horizontal wells

1996: Slickwater fracturing fluid introduced

2003 - First hydraulic fracturing of Marcellus Shale

2005 - Halliburton Loophole, excludes waste from • Safe Drinking Water Act• Clean Water Act

2007- Use of multi-well pads and cluster drilling

Why Frack Michigan?

How many wells in Michigan?

• 57 Active permits for High Volume Horizontal Hydraulic Fracturing wells

• Enough land has been leased to drill 500 more

• The DNR auctions state land twice a year for as low as $2/acre

• Residents in many counties, rural and urban, are being approached about signing mineral rights leases.

• The most recent frack well is located in Fowlerville in Livingston County, north of Ann Arbor.

Fracking is devastating• Natural landscapes become large-scale industrial zones.

• Thousands of truckloads of water and waste hauling per well.

• Huge amounts of toxic waste are injected into deep wells, proven to cause property damaging earthquakes.

• Multiple risks for surface and groundwater contamination, poisoning food sheds, farms, homes and businesses.

• People and animals become sick from water and air quality issues

• Land values go down

Pure Michigan

Massive Amounts of Water Consumption and Waste Disposal• Michigan just set the record at 21 million gallons and has

permits to use over 30 million gallons of water per frack.• A well can be fracked up to 18 times.• The frack solution consists of about 95% water, 4.5% sand

and .5% chemicals. • After the frack fluid is injected in the ground, about 40-60%

returns as flowback with naturally occurring radioactive materials and heavy metals which are also toxic.

• This water cannot be treated or reused for consumption or agricultural use.

• The waste must be disposed of in injection wells which has proven to cause property damaging earthquakes.

• Oil companies in North Dakota reported more than 1,000 accidental releases of oil, drilling wastewater or other fluids in 2011, about as many as in the previous two years combined. Many more illicit releases went unreported, state regulators acknowledge, when companies dumped truckloads of toxic fluid along the road or drained waste pits illegally.

• In Michigan, the DEQ approved a spread of 40,000 gallons of toxic frack flowback in May 2012• Mackinac area tourist campground sprayed• Paradise Lake roads sprayed• Mackinaw State Forest road drenched• Deadly materials used

• 215 Government, Industry, University and Nongovernmental Organizations Experts Agree on 12 consensus risk pathways. • 7 involve potential risks to surface water quality• 2 involve potential risks to air quality• 2 involve potential risks to groundwater quality• 1 is related to habitat disruption

Intentional and Unintentional Spills

Contribution to Climate Change

• An estimated 3 to 12% of the methane produced is released to the atmosphere

• 6% of all wells fail immediately. 60% fail within 30 years.• Methane is 84 times worse than CO2 in causing climate

change over a 20 year time span.• A 2010 study from Harvard says natural gas from fracking

could be “dirtier” than coal.

Human Health Impacts• Air quality degradation: Volatile organic

compounds (VOCs) are emitted in various phases of the natural gas development process. This causes asthma and other neurological disorders.

• A recent study in Colorado shows an increased rate of birth defects for women living near frack wells

• Over 5000 people, mostly in other States on the “List of the Harmed” (Pennyslvania Alliance for Clean Water and Air)

107. Jaime LongLocation: Northern MichiganGas Facility: Offloading facility of sour gasExposure: AirSymptoms: Illness “health has been ruined”

781 – 782. Phyllis Senske, Ruth CrawfordLocation: Kalkaska County, MIGas Facility: Chevron gas wellExposure: Dust, noise, vibrationSymptoms: House shaking, dust, excessive noise, heavy truck traffic, property value diminished

783. Paul BradLocation: Kalkaska County, MIGas Facility: 40,000 gallons of Encana produced water spread on roadsExposure: LandSymptoms: Unknown, replacement water or relocated

Regulations are insufficient• Deficiencies in Michigan Regulations

• Setback restriction of a mere 300 ft • Water withdrawal assessment tool is inaccurate• No pre-drilling water well testing• No disclosure of frack chemicals

• Regulations cannot stop the damage from occurring.• Water will always be destroyed• Wells made of concrete will always fail

• Many “regulations” simply require a permit, which is a mere formality given the current legislation which requires state agencies to maximize production rates

Regulations aren’t enforced• By Michigan Law, the DEQ must favor ultimate recovery of

maximum production of oil and gas. (Public Act 451 of 1994 entitled "Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act,")

• Michigan DEQ collects 7% severance tax on oil produced in the state

• There is currently an injunction against Encana to stop drilling due to a lawsuit filed by the Committee to Ban Fracking lawyer, Ellis Boal. The lawsuit highlights 2 violations of Michigan regulations granted and overseen by the DEQ.

Why a Ban? Only a ban will protect us!

• Massive amount of water consumption• Lower lake, river and stream levels• Permanent destruction of water

• Ecological damage• Ground water contamination• Surface water contamination• Air quality degradation• Natural habitat/environmental destruction

• Increased traffic• Long-term economic devastation• Irreversible destruction to subterranean formations• Advancement of climate change• Human Health impacts

Economics• Job claims are exaggerated. Politifact Ohio evaluated the industry job claims in a

TV/internet ad: labeling it “Liar, liar, pants on fire”

• Unions in Ohio are complaining that jobs are not given to locals

• Some economists believe that fracking is creating a false bubble that will ultimately collapse, leaving us with energy infrastructure that will damage our economy

• Applications to open natural gas export ports have been submitted. If opened, industry will be able to sell natural gas to Europe and Asia at much higher rates. In the US, gas sells for about $4/mcf whereas overseas, the market demands in excess of $11/mcf.

• Wall Street Journal has identified that China has significant investment in US Energy. • Chinese companies have invested more than $17 billion* into oil and gas deals in the U.S. and

Canada (since 2010)• China surpassed the U.S. in 2009 as the world's largest consumer of energy in all forms.• Its natural gas consumption nearly doubled between 2006 and 2010, according to the BP

Statistical Review.• Sinopec agreed in January to pay $2.5 billion to Devon Energy Corp. of Oklahoma City for a one-

third stake in about 1.3 million acres of drilling property in Ohio, Michigan and elsewhere

• Natural gas future prices are up $1.592 from year earlier (as of 2/13/2014)

Who we are• We are a non-partisan group of individuals that believe in direct democracy:

• Health instructor, folklorist, electrical engineer, artists, attorney, teachers, nurses, physicians, director of religious temple, architects, librarians, etc.

• democrats, independents and republicans.

• www.letsbanfracking.org is our website

• political ballot initiative seeking to add a ballot to the 2016 Election.

• We are in our third attempt to gain necessary signatures. In the first year we gathered about 30,000. Last year we more than doubled our signatures to over 70,000 almost enough people to fill MSU’s Spartan Stadium (75,005). We need to collect 270,000 valid signatures to get our initiative on the ballot

• Many of our signature collectors are members or leaders of the Sierra Club. We work closely with members of other groups like Food & Water Watch which also support a ban. Many water conservation groups throughout the state have also endorsed our group. If you go to the endorsements page on www.letsbanfracking.org you will see big names like:• Josh Fox, film director of Gasland I and II.• Dr. Jill Stein, 2012 Green Party candidate• Wes Wilson, EPA whistleblower and retired analyst – Be the Change, Colorado• Jim Nash, Oakland County Water Resource Commissioner

Committee to Ban Fracking Ballot LanguageAn initiation of Legislation:• to prohibit the use of horizontal hydraulic

fracturing and production, storage, disposal, • and processing of horizontal hydraulic fracturing

wastes in Michigan; • to eliminate the state’s policy favoring ultimate

recovery of maximum production of oil and gas; and to protect public health, land, water, and air

by amending Public Act 451 of 1994 entitled "Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act

We are under attack• Michigan Chamber of Commerce’s PAC II ballot question committee has

raised over $477,000 to spread misinformation against our committee.• Over $37,500 has come from out of state interests. • Donors include names like: Jordan Exploration Co, Summit Petroleum

Corp, Savoy Exploration, Dart Oil & Gas, Michigan Oil and Gas Association, West Bay Exploration Co, Omimex Energy (Fort Worth TX), Operating East (Charleston WV), Bigard & Huggard Drilling, Rock Oil Co, Southwestern Oil Co, Encana Oil & Gas USA (Denver CO), Pharma (Indianapolis IN), Nestle Waters North America, Maness Petroleum, American Aggregates Corp., Lilly USA, North Bay Energy