MCWC ALLIES:
YOUR RESPONSE IS NEEDED ASAP TO THIS ACTION ALERT INITIATED BY BAN MICHIGAN FRACKING. MCWC fully supports taking immediate action to prevent EGLE from securing control from the EPA over Class II Injection wells. We have worked for years to counter first the DEQ and now EGLE’s declared objective to maximize production of oil and gas and permit injection wells to take the waste, thus turning Michigan into a toxic waste dump and seriously threatening our drinking water. We have forced EPA hearings and rallied community groups to oppose these wells. Yet we were not given any notice about the comment period for the DEQ application to achieve primacy over the EPA in such matters.
There are only a few days left to demand an extension of the comment period and request a public hearing. Once EGLE gets its hands on primacy there will be no options for public participation in permitting decisions and little oversight on these wells.
from the ACTION ALERT FROM BAN MICHIGAN FRACKING:
“Please write the EPA today!
“Michigan’s Oil, Gas and Minerals Division of the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, (EGLE, formerly the DEQ) applied to the EPA for total control over oil and gas injection wells…
“EGLE’s “primacy” application to the EPA completely omitted the required section asking the State of Michigan to detail its history of compliance and enforcement, what violations there have been, contamination reports, well casing failures, and citizen complaints. None of it is there. The public, and the EPA, know NOTHING about whether the State is properly enforcing the laws and actually protecting Michigan’s underground drinking sources! Yet, EPA has approved Michigan’s application.
“The whole process has not been transparent. EPA held a public hearing last May 2020. EPA’s public notice system was inadequate and interested individuals and organizations interested in injection wells in Michigan were not noticed directly. Consequently, no Michigan residents showed up or wrote in opposition.
“Just the gas and oil industry did! The industry is ecstatic about the idea of EGLE being totally in charge of injection wells filled with toxic oil and gas wastes! Yet thousands of Michigan residents have shown up at EPA hearings in Michigan cities and townships over injection wells proposed for their community over the years.
ACTION NEEDED by April 19:
“Write a simple “public comment” to the EPA today to stop the handover of these toxic wells to Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy.
When: The deadline for submitting comments is April 19, 2021.
What to do:
“Go to the Federal Register webpage for public comments on Michigan’s Primacy Application to the EPA here:
“Hit the Green “Submit a Formal Comment” button at the upper right, and a form will appear. Put your comments in the box for comments. You can upload files as attachments if you wish. Provide your email. Click the correct button if you are submitting comments as an individual or an organization. Best not to comment anonymously, it will be ignored.”
MCWC IS SUBMITTING AN ORGANIZATIONAL COMMENT. WE ASK OUR MEMBERS AND ALLIES TO SEND IN YOUR OWN COMMENT. If you need additional talking points visit the Ban Michigan Fracking website and also look at the injection well section of MCWC’s website for more information.
Also published on Medium.