MT PLEASANT, Mich. (Dec. 17, 2015) Various groups of environmental active students at Central Michigan University are opposing plans to expand hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, to Michigan. Fracking is a process that stimulates the flow of natural gas by fracturing the rock formations surrounding the targeted area, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA is the U.S. government agency responsible for regulating activities that could affect air and water. In October, members of two environmental groups on CMU’s campus signed a letter to the EPA in protest of a Class II injection well in Mecosta County. This type of injection well is associated with fracking and pumps chemical-laced water into the ground in order to pump out the gas, which is believed by the environmentalists to be a possible hazard to ground water in the case of leaks or spills. Fracking has been controversial around the country, with some activists contending fracking harms groundwater and could lead to minor earthquakes from disturbing the earth’s mantle. These specific concerns were raised to CMU students by speaker Christopher Grobbel, a Michigan State University professor, in September. The groups at CMU protesting fracking include the Student Environmental Alliance, which is an activist group of 35 students dedicated to raising awareness of current environmental issues among the student body, and the Student Environmental Health Association, or SEHA. SEHA is a group of 22 students majoring in environmental health and safety. “There is a proposal to build an injection well for the storage of fracking waste in Mecosta County, which neighbors ours (Isabella) . Where there are plans for waste disposal, there are plans to frack, and we don’t want that,” said SEA Secretary Allen McTaggart in an email to SEA members. “You guys know the drill when it comes to fracking. The environmental risk to our area is too high and we must make our voices heard.” This is not the first time the students of SEA have fought fracking. Vice President Tim Minotas said that they have attended multiple public land auctions to protest the selling of land to oil companies. Minotas is a political science major with an environmental studies minor. Nut graph: The issue of fracking is particularly timely at this moment, not only because of the Mecosta County proposal, but also because of the circulation throughout the state of a petition regarding the inclusion of a fracking ban in Michigan on the 2016 ballot. The push for this ban was initiated by the Committee to Ban Fracking in Michigan, a ballot question committee of Michigan citizens involved in grassroot politics, but the 252,253-signature threshold was not met. The initiative was based on the concerns of environmental harm among citizens—especially to groundwater, which CMU activists say can affect the health of both humans and the environment. CMU STUDENT GROUPS OPPOSE FRACKING SEA meeting at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 1 in Pearce 123 EPA diagram of hydraulic fracturing
Transcript
MT PLEASANT, Mich. (Dec. 17, 2015)Various groups of environmental active students at Central Michigan University are opposing plans to expand hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, to Michigan.
Fracking is a process that stimulates the �ow of natural gas by fracturing the rock formations surrounding the targeted area, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA is the U.S. government agency responsible for regulating activities that could a�ect air and water.
In October, members of two environmental groups on CMU’s campus signed a letter to the EPA in protest of a Class II injection well in Mecosta County. This type of injection well is associated with fracking and pumps chemical-laced water into the ground in order to pump out the gas, which is believed by the environmentalists to be a possible hazard to ground water in the case of leaks or spills.
Fracking has been controversial around the country, with some activists contending fracking harms groundwater and could lead to minor earthquakes from disturbing the earth’s mantle. These speci�c concerns were raised to CMU students by speaker Christopher Grobbel, a Michigan State University professor, in September.
The groups at CMU protesting fracking include the Student Environmental Alliance, which is an activist group of 35 students dedicated to raising awareness of current environmental issues among the student body, and the Student Environmental Health Association, or SEHA. SEHA is a group of 22 students majoring in environmental health and safety.
“There is a proposal to build an injection well for the storage of fracking waste in Mecosta County, which neighbors ours (Isabella) . Where there are plans for waste disposal, there are plans to frack, and we don’t want that,” said SEA Secretary Allen McTaggart in an email to SEA members. “You guys know the drill when it comes to fracking. The environmental risk to our area is too high and we must make our voices heard.”
This is not the �rst time the students of SEA have fought fracking. Vice President Tim Minotas said that they have attended multiple public land auctions to protest the selling of land to oil companies. Minotas is a political science major with an environmental studies minor.
Nut graph: The issue of fracking is particularly timely at this moment, not only because of the Mecosta County proposal, but also because of the circulation throughout the state of a petition regarding the inclusion of a fracking ban in Michigan on the 2016 ballot. The push for this ban was initiated by the Committee to Ban Fracking in Michigan, a ballot question committee of Michigan citizens involved in grassroot politics, but the 252,253-signature threshold was not met. The initiative was based on the concerns of environmental harm among citizens—especially to groundwater, which CMU activists say can a�ect the health of both humans and the environment.
CMU STUDENT GROUPS OPPOSE FRACKING
SEA meeting at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 1 in Pearce 123
EPA diagram of hydraulic fracturing
In Mecosta County, the proposal for an the injection well was not initially announced to the general public, but after a letter from the EPA was received by the Mecosta County Board of County Commissioners seeking comment, the public quickly responded. From Oct. 24, or the day the public became aware of this proposal, to Nov. 9, the last day for public comment, public interest increased, said Linda Travis. Travis is a member of the Mecosta County Democratic Party Executive Board and writer of the public letter to Ross Micham, the EPA’s expert on underground injection control for Region 5, which includes the area of Mecosta County. Travis said there were not only hundreds of supporters who signed her letter to Micham opposing the well, but also eight to 10 individuals who independently contacted the EPA in protest of the well permit. Micham said the public outcry led to a public hearing in January regarding the Mecosta County well permit proposal. Julia Valentine, the EPA’s contact for hydraulic fracturing in Washington, D.C., said many people do not think of the practice as harmful because there are so many examples of fracking-related activities that have not resulted in harm to the environment. In the United States, Valentine said, there is an estimated 147,000 Class II injection wells, with about 1,480 in Michigan. Valentine said none have been shown to be a signi�cant environmental threat. The students at CMU, however, have di�erent opinions. “I think it’s ine�cient… And honestly it’s kind of scary. We are all so worried about the now that we don’t stop to think about the possibility that this could seriously a�ect our health. That’s going to wind up coming back to harm us,” said CMU senior Evelyn Lorimer. Lorimer is the Vice President of SEHA and one of the students who signed the letter to Micham. Another student who signed the letter is senior Zach Schaeding, a member of both SEHA and SEA. Schaeding said that while fracking and its production of natural gas is more e�cient than either wood or coal for energy production, the practice endangers not only groundwater but also can require cutting down the trees in the area around the wells. Minotas attended a public hearing near the end of August in regards to a possible Union Township injection well permit, which is right on the edge of CMU’s campus. This hearing was also held due to a high amount of public comments that opposed the proposition. Lorimer plans to work as an environmental health and safety inspector who determined possible hazards and makes decisions based on evaluations. Schaeding hopes to obtain an environmental job in the government and particularly mentioned the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, which is the government department responsible for issuing permits for the drilling of all oil and gas wells in the state. Minotas has already been heavily involved in environmental political activity through an internship at the Sierra Club, which is a nonpro�t organization that promotes environmental conservation by in�uencing public policy. In the future, Minotas plans to continue similar work through a position in a government agency or nonpro�t in which he can in�uence political decisions to �ght for the environmental causes he supports. “My hope for the future is that all fossil fuel extraction ceases to exist. It’ll be a long and hard �ght, but being surrounded by people here who have the same outlook as I do keeps me hopeful,” said Minotas.
