Every year 24,000 people die prematurely because of pollution from coal-fired power plants.

Every year 38,000 heart attacks occur because of pollution from coal-fired power plants.

Every year 12,000 hospital admissions and 550,000 people suffering asthma attacks result from power plant pollution.

Every year, coal-fired power plants release 48 tons of mercury nationwide.

Power plants release over 40% of total U.S. C02 emissions, a primary contributor to global warming...

...and yet the coal industry wants you to believe that building more coal fired power plants in Michigan is a good idea!

...and now utilities want to burn (as biomass) our trees that capture and store harmful carbon dioxide and produce the oxygen we need to live

Natural Gas | ALTERNATIVE ENERGY RESOURCE GUIDE

As coal continues to run out, natural gas is becoming an interim solution to provide fuel for energy production. Michigan is home to a plentiful supply of natural gas.

Hydraulic Fracturing in Michigan | A RESOURCE GUIDE

Hydraulic fracturing or "frac'ing" in the industry (and recently, "fracking" by the media) is a process that results in the creation of fractures in rocks. Hydraulic fracturing for stimulation of oil and natural gas wells was first used in the United States in 1947, in more than one million wells. An estimated 90% of the natural gas wells in the U.S. use hydraulic fracturing to increase production.

On the other hand, high-volume horizontal slickwater Hydraulic Fracturing is a recent phenomenon. This fracturing is done from a wellbore drilled into reservoir rock formations to enhance oil and natural gas recovery. Hydraulic fractures are extended by applying extremely high internal fluid pressure which opens the fracture and causes it to grow into the rock. The fracture width is typically maintained after the injection by introducing a proppant into the injected fluid. Proppant is a material, such as grains of sand, ceramic, or other particulates, that prevent the fractures from closing when the injection is stopped. Some of the chemicals used in some of the processes are toxic and extremely hazardous.

The primary environmental and human health concerns associated with hydraulic fracturing include the mishandling of toxic waste, a deterioration in air quality, the contamination of ground water, as well as the unintended migration of gases and hydraulic fracturing chemicals into water tables and to the surface . The risk to animal and human health from frac'ing fluids are becoming increasingly significant and alarming. Each frac in Michigan is believed to use/pollute about 5-million gallons of fresh water. The Jobs and Energy Group believes that fresh water and clean air protection are the primary issues that we must address around the production of natural gas.

Tell Your Representatives to Support the Frac Act | PROTECT OUR GLOBAL COMMONS
We need your help to pass the FRAC Act - twin bills in the Senate (S 1215) and House (HR 2766) that remove the exemption to the Safe Drinking Water Act for fracking and call for the disclosure and monitoring of the chemicals used in the process. Contacting your elected officials is critical to its passage.

Resources for Where You Live | THIS LIST WILL BE UPDATED AS INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE

• Land Map indicating ownership of mineral rights in Kalkaska County
• Kalkaska County Drilling Units
• Kalkaska: Drilling Units
• MDNRE: Mineral Lease Auction Reports | Corrections

CAMPAIGN by Robynn James
Good friends of Northern Michigan | READ THIS LETTER AND LEARN WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP
If you're reading this it's because I know you love Northern Michigan and do not want to see it meet with the fate of communities featured in the film Gasland. Some of you know that recently I've been able to learn from inside sources some critical information on the activities of Chesapeake Energy and Halliburton in Kalkaska County. If we fail to act now to stop the onslaught of Halliburton-developed hydraulic fracturing the entire Northern Michigan water table, and possibly even the Great Lakes, face peril. CLICK HERE

Toxic Chemicals on Tap: How Natural Gas Drilling Threatens Drinking Water
Humans need very few things to survive: air, shelter, food, and water. Fossil fuels (oil, coal and natural gas) pollute the air with smog, soot and global warming pollution, but their effect on water is often overlooked. Natural gas, which the industry touts as the “cleanest of all fossil fuels,” threatens to dirty drinking water with toxic chemicals used in drilling.i Rivers, lakes and groundwater already face threats from industrial pollution, agricultural runoff, and overdevelopment. Adding an unnecessary threat to one of the most valuable resources is dangerous. The government must act to safeguard drinking water. In light of the increased pressure to drill for more natural gas in states across the country, this report focuses on the dangers to drinking water from gas drilling. In particular, we examined hydraulic fracturing (often called “fracking”), a commonly used process gas companies employ to extract natural gas or oil reserves. Natural gas exists in bubbles underground, much like bubbles in carbonated soda. Getting to these pockets of gas requires injecting millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals into the ground in order to crack open these bubbles in the rock to allow natural gas to flow to the surface.

A list of toxic chemicals commonly used in Hydrofracing for Natural Gas | VIEW LIST
June 29, 2010 ELMIRA (WENY) – The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is planning to release a complete list of chemicals used in hydrofacing. The list contains every day substances ranging from sugar and table salt to more toxic ones like formaldehyde. Some of the chemical compounds are associated with neurological problems and other health issues - environmental advocates are worried the chemicals are poisoning underground drinking water. It’s believed to be the first complete catalog of natural gas drilling chemicals used to drill in the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania. This DEP list only mentions about 85 chemicals. We crosschecked this with list of known chemicals from New York State, which has about 200 more chemicals on it. We’re working with experts to break these lists down for you, and find out why the lists vary so much from state to state.

Hydrofracturing for Natural Gas in Michigan Collingwood Shale
With all of the talk these days around hydrofracing in Michigan, I thought that you may want a little scientific background to answer at least some of your questions. Here is a link to a map of Michigan Bedrock prepared by the University of Michigan. The Collingwood shale layer is part of the middle Ordovician Period of rock formations. And here is a Stratigraphic rendering of the rock layers below Michigan soil published by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. This work is the product of the combined efforts of the geological communities of Michigan and the surrounding states and provinces. Please find the Collingwood formation nearer to the bottom (Mohawkian Stage). Also note the barrier layers above the Collingwood. By contrast you may want to note that Michigan natural gas in the past has traditionally come from the Antrim Shale layer near the top of the chart (much closer to the earths surface, and water supplies) in the late Devonian Era - (Chautauquan Stage).

Michigan DNRE Powerpoint presentation
This presentation provides a clearer insight into drilling (and hydraulic fracturing) into the Collingwood Shale under Michigan in pursuit of natural gas.

Our Natural Gas and Methane Resources in the U.S.
The following maps were developed using GIS softwaret. Most of the maps are large format (60 inches X 36 inches, for example) because they were intended for printing on a wide-bed printer. To clearly view them on your monitor you will have to zoom in and then scroll through the map. They will also take more than just a couple of seconds to load owing to their complexity.

Headlines

Please Support the FRAC Act: Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals (FRAC) Act
Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals (FRAC) Act - Amends the Safe Drinking Water Act to: (1) repeal the exemption from restrictions on underground injection of fluids near drinking water sources granted to hydraulic fracturing operations under such Act; and (2) require oil and gas companies to disclose the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing operations. Read the Bills: House | Senate

Broad Scope of EPA’s Fracturing Study Raises Ire of Gas Industry
A federal study of hydraulic fracturing is expected to provide the most expansive look yet at how the natural gas drilling process can affect drinking water supplies, according to interviews with EPA officials and a set of documents outlining the scope of the project. The research will take a substantial step beyond previous studies and focus on how a broad range of ancillary activity – not just the act of injecting fluids under pressure – may affect drinking water quality. The oil and gas industry strongly opposes this new approach. The findings could affect Congress’ decision whether to repeal an exemption that shields the fracturing process from federal regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

What does drilling of Michigan's underground natural resources mean for the environment?
As interest in Michigan’s underground natural resources increases, so do concerns over what drilling could mean for the environment. While there are a lot of unknowns as to what effect drilling would have in the long term, most concerns rise over the possibility of contamination of the water supply. “My biggest concern is the groundwater, always,” said Susan Topp, a Gaylord attorney who has specialized in mineral rights leases since 1992. “Ground water is our most precious resource. Whenever you put contaminates in a mud pit, truck or pipeline, there will be a spill eventually.” According to the DNRE office of geological survey, hydraulic fracturing has been used extensively for many years in Michigan in both deep shale formations and in the relatively shallow, Antrim shale formation. There are currently about 10,000 Antrim shale wells in Michigan that produce natural gas at depths of 500 to 2,000 feet and hydraulic fracturing has been used in almost every one.

Natural gas drilling in Northern Michigan poses threat to water supplies
A new round of natural gas exploration in Northern Michigan, sparked by the development of a controversial new drilling technique that has yielded good results for the Encana corporation, is prompting serious concerns about potential damage to ground and surface waters.

Is Natural Gas Drilling Endangering U.S. Water Supplies?
In July, a hydrologist dropped a plastic sampling pipe 300 feet down a water well in rural Sublette County, Wyo., and pulled up a load of brown oily water with a foul smell. Tests showed it contained benzene, a chemical believed to cause aplastic anemia and leukemia, in a concentration 1,500 times the level safe for people. The results sent shockwaves through the energy industry and state and federal regulatory agencies. Sublette County is the home of one of the nation's largest natural gas fields, and many of its 6,000 wells have undergone a process pioneered by Halliburton called hydraulic fracturing, which shoots vast amounts of water, sand and chemicals several miles underground to break apart rock and release the gas. The process has been considered safe since a 2004 study by the Environmental Protection Agency found that it posed no risk to drinking water. After that study, Congress even exempted hydraulic fracturing from the Safe Drinking Water Act. Today fracturing is used in nine out of ten natural gas wells in the United States. More than 1,000 cases of contamination have been documented by courts and state and local governments in Colorado, New Mexico, Alabama, Ohio and Pennsylvania. [Editor: I have been assured that hydrofracing for natural gas in the Collingwood shale layer in Michigan's lower peninsula is protected by so many other geological rocky layer/barriers that the risk of fresh water contamination from hyrdrofracturing is low. The safe use and disposal of dangerous fracking fluids is another matter that warrants discussion and improved environmental protection laws and better policies.]

Natural Gas as Panacea: Dubious Path to a Green Future | Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies
For several years, many voices, including Texas energy baron T. Boone Pickens, have been touting natural gas as the best energy source to form a bridge between the current fossil-fuel economy and a renewable energy future. Proponents contend that not only is natural gas a cleaner-burning fuel than coal, producing lower greenhouse gas emissions, but that reserves of natural gas are far greater than previously believed because of vast reserves trapped throughout the U.S — and around the world — in huge underground formations of shale. Earlier this month, Britain’s New Scientist magazine published an article about shale gas entitled, “Wonderfuel: Welcome to the Age of Unconventional Gas.” Last month, the Wall Street Journal ran its own op-ed ode to shale gas: “Shale Gas Will Rock the World.” The author, Amy Myers Jaffe — a fellow in energy studies at Rice University — wrote, “I am convinced that shale gas will revolutionize the industry — and change the world — in the coming decades.” She even suggested that the abundance of natural gas in shale deposits worldwide will slow the transition to a renewable energy future.

Shale Gas Costing 2/3 Less Than OPEC Oil Incites Water Concern
May 25 (Bloomberg) -- When Victoria Switzer awoke on a cold night in March, her dog was staring out the window at the flame roaring from a natural-gas-drilling rig 2,000 feet behind her house. She remembers trees silhouetted in a demonic dance as the plume burned off gas that had been building up under her land. She discovered later that such flaring can occur when Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. and dozens more companies drill for gas trapped in shale rock. The deposits, stretching from Texas to New York, and as far away as Australia and China, represent what may be the biggest energy bonanza in decades -- one that Switzer, 57, recalls thinking the Earth isn’t surrendering without a fight

Blowin’ in the Wind: Coupling wind power & natural gas may provide answer to region’s energy search
The Stoney Corners wind farm is the brainchild of Marty Lagina, founder of Heritage Sustainable Energy, which plans to install wind farms across the state. A commercial wind pioneer, his wind field is Northern Michigan’s largest and will grow to 19 wind turbines by the end of this year. But even he concedes that wind power can’t provide “base” or continual 24/7 energy. Turbines only deliver electricity when the wind is blowing, and storage technologies are currently too expensive or impractical. Lagina’s solution: combine wind with a “smart” natural gas plant, which—when invented—could detect wind when it’s blowing or not blowing and then make up the shortfall. The beauty of this energy partnership, said Lagina, is that the resultant air pollution and carbon dioxide emissions from such a “hybrid” plant would be a small fraction of other alternate base load plants (such as coal, oil, and biomass.)

EPA to study whether fracking poses water risk
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will do a detailed study of hydraulic fracturing, the technique used to extract natural gas from dense shale formations, to determine whether it poses risks to surface and ground water. The study has been expected for some time but the EPA formally announced its plans today, saying it has $1.9 million set aside for the study this year with more funds possible next year. "Our research will be designed to answer questions about the potential impact of hydraulic fracturing on human health and the environment," said Dr. Paul T. Anastas, assistant administrator for the EPA’s Office of Research and Development. Hydraulic fracturing is not subject to federal drinking water laws but is regulated by state laws. The disposal and storage of all water and fracturing fluids that come back out of a gas well — called produced water — is covered by federal law.

Dr. Anthony Ingraffea, Cornell University, on Hydraulic Fracturing | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
April 12th, 2010—This is the first video in a three part series in which Dr. Anthony Ingraffea, an expert on hydraulic fracturing explains the process and its potential environmental impacts.

The Next Drilling Disaster?
A broad coalition of energy analysts and government officials have embraced domestic natural gas as a promising "bridge fuel" that could help smooth the transition from more carbon-intensive fossil fuels like oil and coal to renewable energy sources like solar and wind. The catch, though, is that the natural gas industry shares the same history as other energy industries operating in the United States. A string of recent disasters—including the TVA coal ash spill, the Massey coal mine explosion and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill—have demonstrated all too vividly that failure to regulate and oversee resource extraction can lead to catastrophe. Some fear that Dimock is the first natural gas casualty, an early warning of what could happen on a much larger scale if fracking spreads unchecked to other residential areas in the Marcellus region and across the country. After a stray drill bit banged four wells in 2008, Switzer says, weird things started happening to people's water: some flushed black, some orange, some turned bubbly. One well exploded, the result of methane migration, and residents say elevated metal and toluene levels have ruined twelve others.

Council of Scientific Society Presidents Letter to Washington
On May 4, 2010, the Council of Scientific Society Presidents (CSSP) sent a letter to senior administrators and legislators in Washington, noting the urgency of addressing global climate disruption, and calling for better use of science in developing policies as the nation moves foward. The CSSP cautioned that some energy systems promoted to help with global climate change have not received adequate scientific scrutiny, and may aggravate global warming and pollute the environment to a greater extent that commonly appreciated. The CSSP letter specifically mentioned the nation's biofuel policy and the development of diffuse natural gas sources in shale formations such as the Marcellus Shale as examples where energy policy has moved ahead without an adequate base in objective science.

Preliminary Assessment of the Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Natural Gas obtained by Hydraulic Fracturing
Natural gas is being widely advertised and promoted as a clean burning fuel that produces less greenhouse gas emissions than coal when burned. While it is true that less carbon dioxide is emitted from burning natural gas than from burning coal per unit of energy generated, the combustion emissions are only part of story and the comparison is quite misleading. A complete consideration of all emissions from using natural gas seems likely to make natural gas far less attractive than oil and not significantly better than coal in terms of the consequences for global warming.

Collingwood-Utica Gas Play – Michigan
Friday, May 7th—Encana Corporation reports that they acquired a quarter million acres in Cheboygan, Kalkaska, and Missaukee Counties, Michigan for about $150/acre. They are reporting production from the Collingwood Shale (2.5 million cubic feet per day from one well), the rock unit immediately below the Utica and immediately above the Trenton.

Converting Simple Cycle to Combined Cycle Makes Smart Energy Sense
Rising fuel prices and growing electricity demand require power producers to generate electricity in the most efficient manner. This sometimes requires converting simple cycle facilities into more efficient combined cycle operations. Here's how.

Combined Cycle Power Plant (CCPP)
Flexible and efficient gas power plants with proven technology & components In today's competitive market place, there has never been a greater need to optimise a power plant's total lifecycle costs, whilst ensuring the preservation of the environment.

Convert Michigan "Peaking" Plants to Provide Baseload Energy
We are writing to bring to MDEQ’s attention Wolverine’s recent agreement to acquire the 340 MW Sumpter plant from FirstEnergy Corp. This natural gas peaking plant can be converted to a combined cycle plant to meet Wolverine’s future baseload energy needs, at a smaller economic and environmental cost to Wolverine’s customers and Michigan residents than the proposed coal plant. We continue to believe that Wolverine can offset or meet a significant portion of future demand through more aggressive energy efficiency measures and increased investment in renewable resources (as set forth in our previous comments on Wolverine’s Energy Generation Alternatives Analysis). However, the Sumpter plant acquisition reinforces that Wolverine has failed to meet its duty under MEPA, as it has failed to demonstrate the need for, or lack of cleaner alternatives to, 600 MW of new coalfired generating capacity. [Editor: Traverse City has a peaking plant in Kalkaska that the ratepayers are already paying for that could be converted more reasonably, than to build their proposed biomass plants.]

Wolverine purchases the 340-Megawatt Sumpter Natural Gas Fueled Power Plant
FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) today announced that its FirstEnergy Generation Corp. subsidiary has reached an agreement in principle to sell its 340-megawatt (MW) Sumpter Plant in Sumpter, Michigan, to Wolverine Power Supply Cooperative, Inc., for an undisclosed amount. The sale is expected to close in first quarter of 2010. The plant, built in 2002 by FirstEnergy Generation Corp., consists of four 85-MW natural gas combustion turbines.

Electric Generation Using Natural Gas
Natural gas, because of its clean burning nature, has become a very popular fuel for the generation of electricity. Due to economic, environmental, and technological changes, natural gas has become the fuel of choice for new power plants. Natural gas fired electricity generation is expected to increase dramatically over the next 20 years, as all of the new capacity that is currently being constructed comes online. New technology has allowed natural gas to play an increasingly important role in the clean generation of electricity. Click on the link for more information on the environmental benefits of natural gas, including its role as a clean energy source for the generation of electricity.

Michigan Has a Large Supply of Natural Gas
Michigan imports 97 percent of its petroleum needs, 80 percent of its natural gas and 100 percent of coal and nuclear fuel from other states and nations. These imports account for about 70 cents of every dollar spent for energy by Michigan's citizens and businesses. Michigan spent a total of $37 billion on all forms of energy in 2007 and of that amount $26 billion was for the energy resources imported from other states and nations. Michigan has substantial natural gas reserves - more than any other State in the Great Lakes region. The State's Antrim natural gas fields in the northern portion of the Lower Peninsula are among the largest gas producing geological formations of this type in the United States. About 80 percent of Michigan households use natural gas as their primary energy source for home heating.

Is Natural Gas The New Oil?
This week, Exxon acquired XTO Energy, one of the largest domestic producers of natural gas. Natural gas is considered a cheaper and greener form of energy due to its somewhat lower carbon footprint... but the companies who may own the natural gas market may wind up being the same oil giants we already know.

In Push for Coal, Utilities Ignore Gas-Fired Plants
Michigan—As two utilities push for state permission to build two new, coal-fired power plants in Michigan, a nationally known energy expert says that natural gas—and not coal—is the key to helping the country, including Michigan, move to a clean-energy, fossil-fuel-free economy. The report lists eight largely idle natural gas plants in Michigan (Please see chart to the right) whose combined unused generating capacity far exceeds that of the two proposed new coal plants. It makes no sense to be building new coal plants right now. [It makes no sense to be building biomass plants right now!] We have all of these underutilized natural gas power plants, and we’ve already spent most of the money to build them. For a very small extra cost, perhaps half a cent to a penny per kilowatt-hour, you could dramatically reduce U.S greenhouse gas emissions. That is one key role for natural gas in the next 10 to 15 years in replacing coal.” [Editor: Traverse City Light & Power, and others, could upgrade their natural gas powered plant by adding steam turbines to create a "combined cycle" power plant, increasing their output and getting more energy out of them. Peaker power plants are often retrofited after the fact with "combined cycle" technology that uses the waste steam to create energy.]

Conversion of combined cycle power plant to compressed air energy storage power plant
Convert a power generation combined cycle (CC) power plant to a load management compressed air energy storage (CAES) power plant. At least one compressor supplies the air storage with compressed air so that off peak energy can be converted to compressed air energy stored in the air storage. Compressed air from the storage is received by the HRSG and the HRSG provides heat to compressed air received from the air storage. The steam turbine receives heated compressed air from the HRSG and expands the heated compressed air to produce power.

Combining Natural Gas and Solar with Combine Cycle Technology pdf
The integrated solar plant concept was initially proposed by Luz Solar International [1] as a means of integrating a parabolic trough solar plant with modern combined cycle power plants.

New Questions as State Mulls Wolverine Coal Permit
In recent years coal prices and financing costs have soared while natural gas prices have fallen, making new coal plants a bad financial bet. “Wolverine’s plans have apparently remained unchanged while the world changed around them,” he observed. “For a very small extra cost, perhaps half a cent to a penny per kilowatt-hour,” Mr. Romm said, comparing the price of gas power to existing coal power, “you could dramatically reduce U.S greenhouse gas emissions. That is one key role for natural gas in the next 10 to 15 years in replacing coal.” Mr. Romm sees natural gas as a very important “bridge fuel” to get off coal. Increasingly, other utility executives are agreeing with that assessment.

Microturbines
Microturbines are scaled down versions of industrial gas turbines. As their name suggests, these generating units are very small, and typically have a relatively small electric output. These types of distributed generation systems have the capacity to produce from 25 to 500 kilowatts (kW) of electricity, and are best suited for residential or small scale commercial units. Advantages to microturbines include a very compact size (about the same size as a refrigerator), a small number of moving parts, light-weight, low-cost, and increased efficiency. Using new waste heat recovery techniques, microturbines can achieve energy efficiencies of up to 80 percent.

Move over coal, it's natural gas
As power plants that run on coal begin to approach the end of their lifespans, natural gas is the logical successor. "The cheapest alternative that we see today for replacing coal-fired power is natural gas combined cycle," Hal Kvisle said. "That's going to be the economic best answer in the near term."

Beyond Petroleum
It's true that natural gas is not petroleum, but is it true that gas is a radical improvement over oil for our climate? In theory, natural gas emits somewhat less carbon dioxide than oil for the same energy produced. But when fugitive emissions, or leaks, are counted, the difference is slim to none. For the climate, natural gas is at best an incremental improvement over oil, and at worst a distraction from the real challenge of moving our societies away from fossil fuels.

Capitol Power Plant Should Switch to 100 Percent Natural Gas
February 26th, 2009—Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sent the following letter to the Acting Architect of the Capitol, Stephen T. Ayers, asking that the Capitol Power Plant (CPP) use 100 percent natural gas for its operations. They write, “the switch to natural gas will allow the CPP to dramatically reduce carbon and criteria pollutant emissions, eliminating more than 95 percent of sulfur oxides and at least 50 percent of carbon monoxide…We strongly encourage you to move forward aggressively with us on a comprehensive set of policies for the entire Capitol complex and the entire Legislative Branch to quickly reduce emissions and petroleum consumption through energy efficiency, renewable energy, and clean alternative fuels.”

Hydrofracking
It’s not the Copenhagen dream of carbon-free energy. But its promoters say it could be a far-cleaner-than-coal bridge to that future: a vast ocean of natural gas, deep underground, trapped in shale — in this country. America could be the Saudi Arabia of natural gas, they say. New technology — hydraulic fracturing — makes it possible, accessible. But it also means shooting a river of chemicals up and down through our water table. The water we drink.

Natural gas in Michigan