Company says no fracking for oil natural gas in Oakland County

Company says no fracking for oil natural gas in Oakland County by Joseph Szczesny, August, 28, 2012, The Daily Tribune
The northern Michigan company prospecting for oil and gas in the middle of Oakland County does not plan to use the water-intensive practice of “fracking” if the exploratory wells it is drilling are successful. Ben Brower, a representative of Jordan Energy of Traverse City, who represented the Michigan Oil & Gas Association at a forum on oil and gas drilling in Oakland County, said his company does not expect to use fracking to extract oil and gas from its prospects across the county. Jordan Development of Traverse City, the oil and gas company which operates wells throughout Michigan, paid the state of Michigan $33 per acre during an auction in May for 18,347 acres of state owned mineral rights inside Oakland County. In addition, the company is also offering to buy the mineral rights from dozens of private landowners across the county, according to the nearly 100 county residents who turned out for the forum Monday night, which was sponsored by the Michigan State University Cooperative Extension Service. “We bought all of the (state) leases in Oakland County,” Brower said. “It’s not our intent to do any harm.” … Several residents attending the forum expressed concern about the threat drilling poses both to lakes and streams as well as underground aquifers that are used for drinking water and in different parts of the county. Brower, however, said drilling in Michigan is tightly regulated by the Department of Environmental Quality. Since Jordan Development’s business is located primarily in Michigan, it is quite sensitive to the requirements on anyone exploring or extracting oil and natural gas in the state.