"Lease deals for landowners' mineral rights and permits to drill new oil wells are both on the rise in metro Detroit.
But as new pumps begin to dot the landscape in communities like Shelby Township and Scio Township, the out-state portion of Michigan's oil and gas exploration industry is largely lackluster. The shift is best documented by trends with state permits.
Oil and gas exploration company executives and state regulatory officials say permit requests to drill new wells have been moving over the past two years toward Southeast Michigan.
The Detroit area has yielded modest oil deposits at relatively shallow depths, making them cheap to drill and easier to spot with new seismic imaging technology.
Exploration companies have obtained 20 permits for wells in the five-county region of Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Washtenaw and Livingston so far in 2014, out of 86 total drilling permits statewide, according to data from the state Office of Oil, Gas and Minerals, a division of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
The same five-county region accounted for 29 total permits in all of 2013, out of 205 permits issued statewide.
...West Bay obtained a permit earlier this month for Scio Township, despite opposition from nearby residents and a letter in May from three state legislators asking DEQ to reject it. It also gained another permit in June for a site in western Shelby Township, not long after a lease deal in nearby Rochester Hills drew a lawsuit against Jordan and the city by a nonprofit citizens group in May. ."
The residents of Shelby Township are rallying against the drilling that is occurring in our backyards. Property owners who sold out their neighbors will be exposed. Our State Legislature sold out citizens taking away local control on these matters. It could happen anywhere. The Shelby Twp we'll is in the middle of a zoned residential area and we are told there so nothing we can do about it.
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