Michigan Votes Forum

Introduced in the House on June 17, 2009

Click here to view bill details.

This bill is flawed by the fact that it needs review by the petroleum industry.  Making laws is quite easy and gives hubris and satisfaction to legislators that they have such power over other powers.  Let's be reasonable, oil drilling at 50 decibels is probably not possible.  Some of the other provisions of the bill such as protection of potable aquifers is reasonable and good.  But the nature and extent of the control and restriction proviuded by this bill call for scrutuiny by someone who knows the extent and practice of oil drilling.

Although the Mackinac Center summary focuses on the noise abatement issue, the far more pernicious part of this bill lies in this amendment to sec 6156b, which sets out certain circumstances in which the state supervisor of wells may not issue a drilling permit:

(b) The city, village, or township where the well is located has determined that the well poses a threat to public health or safety.

This effectively puts veto power in the hands of local officials, something that only complicates and adds cost to the permitting process.  It also complicates the drilling deal-making process for exploration and development companies.  All this is to the detriment of orderly development of resources.  Anti-drilling factions for decades have pushed for this kind of local override.

Ordinarily, I am an advocate of local control.  However, State level regulatory control over oil and gas drilling operations has served the people of Michigan well for 70 years or more.  There is no need to change that, especially right now.

Section 61506D sets the drilling operation noise restrictions (55 DB day, 50 DB night).  I don’t know how manageable these would be from an industry perspective.  I do suspect they would effectively ban drilling in some locales.  

Note, for comparison, that motorcycles in the state are allowed to be sold with mufflers that leaves them producing 83 DB.  I’m not sure there is any real limit on the volume of noise that motorcycles actually may produce – there seems to be virtually no enforcement of any limit in Michigan.  

In the past I spent considerable time in the Michigan oilfields, near drilling rigs.  The vast majority of operations are less noisy at the edge of the cleared drilling “pad” than many or perhaps even most of the motorcycles that roar past me on the road.

This legislation should be rejected.

FreeSpeaker:

This effectively puts veto power in the hands of local officials, something that only complicates and adds cost to the permitting process. 

Seems a small price to pay for the freedom of residents to regulate their living environment to their liking.

Ironic that some would say putting tags on beer kegs is moving towards a police state, but residents exercising their rights to maintain their version of a peaceful and quiet environment is too complicating and expensive.

gypsy:

...

Ironic that some would say putting tags on beer kegs is moving towards a police state, but residents exercising their rights to maintain their version of a peaceful and quiet environment is too complicating and expensive.

 

The beer keg tags and drilling permit procedures are two different issues.

 

They are.

One would reduce our freedom of choice, the other would empower it.