Several states want to ban natural gas drilling beneath the Great Lakes.
With gas prices rising dramatically in the past year, the resources available under the Great Lakes have become an enticing prospect - and a subject of controversy.
In 1986, the governors of the eight littoral states signed an agreement forbidding offshore drilling for oil, but gas drilling was not specifically mentioned. "This is sort of ambiguous, and I guess it leaves open the possibility that under the agreement you could drill for gas, but it would require the approval of the governor," said Freda Tarbell, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. So far, none of the Great Lakes states has permitted offshore drilling for gas. Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana, New York and Wisconsin have no wells and do not plan to engage in gas drilling.
Michigan has seven extended-reach wells, which produced 26,000 bbl of oil and 1.9 Bcf of gas from under the Great Lakes, and permits for 30 more onshore leases are pending. During the past 20 years, Michigan has produced nearly 440,000 bbl of oil and 17.9 Bcf of gas from beneath Lake Michigan. The Michigan Environmental Science Board investigated directional drilling and concluded "there is little to no risk of contamination to the Great Lakes bottom or waters." The state plans to make a decision about leasing lake acreage this summer. If the leasing program, which has been on hold since 1997, resumes, Michigan stands to receive between US $60 million and $100 million in royalties, said Lynne Boyd at the state's Department of Natural Resources.
In Wisconsin, state Sen. Robert Cowles of Green Bay has introduced a bill to ban any drilling for oil or gas beneath the Great Lakes, and state Rep. Jon Richards said he plans to introduce legislation that would ban drilling and pipelines beneath Lake Michigan and Lake Superior.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources is researching the idea of drilling under its portion of Lake Erie at the request of state lawmakers, but said it has no position on such drilling. However, Ohio Gov. Bob Taft said he could not conceive of any situation in which he would support drilling for gas under Lake Erie. "Ohio has other sources of natural gas to explore," Taft told reporters.
Environmentalists say the lakes should not be threatened for what could turn out to be a relatively small amount of oil and gas. They say a drilling accident could foul drinking water supplies for millions and disrupt the state's $1 billion tourism industry.
In response to the Great Lakes drilling debate, US Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., introduced a bill to ban all drilling for oil or gas beneath the Great Lakes, including extended-reach wells on land. Nineteen other representatives have signed on as co-sponsors. Four members of Ohio's congressional delegation (Sen. George Voinovich and Reps. Marcy Kaptur, Dennis Kucinich and Steve LaTourette) have come out against drilling for gas in Lake Erie. "The Great Lakes represent 25% of the world's fresh water...To put that in jeopardy in any way is a serious mistake," LaTourette said. About 35 million people live in the region of the Great Lakes basin, which contains gas reserves of 1 Tcf.
Already gas drilling there
Gas drilling has been going on for decades on the Canadian side of Lake Erie, with some 550 wells producing, said Ruby Rybansky, chief engineer at the Petroleum Resources Centre in London, Ontario. "We've got an offshore natural gas industry that's been commercially active for more than 40 years," he said. Ontario allows offshore drilling between April and October, when there's no ice or fierce winter storms to prevent the drilling barges from accessing the gas fields. Offshore drilling for oil is prohibited by international agreements.
Ontario contributes 1.5% of Canada's gas production. Since the first well was drilled under Lake Michigan in 1979, about 438,000 bbl of oil and 17.5 Bcf of gas have been produced.
None of this controversy is new, Rybansky said. A similar debate raged during the international energy crunch of the 1970s, when the states were "extremely keen" to open Lake Erie to drilling. "That's when we had the big energy shock, prices skyrocketed and the political will changed," he said. "Gee, sounds familiar, doesn't it? "

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