Oild Drilling in Heritage Park Suspended

Oil drilling in Heritage Park came to a stop again. The drilling site this time also features a red tank that is connected to a small flaring pipe.

It seems that the produced oil cannot be trucked away right now. I was wondering why the central processing facility was not put into Heritage Park when the city tabled the decision on that Savoy proposal. In the same line I was wondering why Savoy wanted to buy 8 acres for $10,000 each in the Savoy proposal that failed to pass on the City Commission assembly on April 1st. I slowly think that the current lease between Savoy and the City of Adrian does not include unlimited truck traffic and the right of way for pipelines...

Oil drilling and probably processing continued at Heritage Park

The myth of save pipelines

I initially planned to only include local news but the Arkansas pipeline accident less than 3 years after the enormous Kalamazoo pipeline spill in July 2010 should have an influence on the City of Adrian's decision to sell up to 8 acres of Witt Farm to Savoy Oil and grant them right of way to build pipelines from any close-by well (including any well in Heritage Park) to the central processing plant at Witt Farm.
According to statements by the Adrian's mayor Greg DuMars, the city administrator Dane Nelson and several city commissioners on the city commission meeting on April 1, Savoy could do all of the above under the current lease but nobody was able to explain, why the city administrator and Savoy wanted the above mentioned sale to pass a vote in the commission, and why Savoy would pay $80,000 to get something they already own? This is exactly the same situation we had with the tabled decision to build the central processing facility in Heritage Park - that was supposedly also not really needed by Savoy according to the understanding of mayor DuMars and Dane Nelson. Lucky for us Savoy moved the planned facility to Witt Farm and that was the end of the tabled city commission decision.

OK - back to the actual topic of this post: the myth of save pipelines. I had some discussion about this topic with commissioner Jacobson after sending a EPA photo link of the Arkansas pipeline spill ( http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/2013/04/05/exxon-oil-spill-photos-mayflower-arkansas_n_3024336.html?ir=Green ) to Dane Nelson and some city commissioners. The controversy started with telling me that there are no plans for Adrian to lay 20" pipes carrying 95,000 barrels a day of tar sands diluted bitumen. It is true that tar sands diluted bitumen is a much dirtier stuff than crude oil, and that the size of the pipeline and the pumping volume are much higher than what would go underground in Adrian. However, fact is that such large pipelines are less numerous and better equipped with a so-called spill detector system than smaller pipelines like the ones that would go underground here, and thus major spills should statistically only occur at max every 10-years - and we had more than 2 of them in the last 3 years. Just have a look at the great collection of pipeline accidents here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pipeline_accidents_in_the_United_States_in_the_21st_Century  This hints strongly to a spill incidence of small pipelines of several spills every year as they are much more numerous. Spill detection is poor as spill volumes are usually small, and pipes are laid underground. However, small spills can have a destructive impact on the environment and water resources if pipelines are laid through sensitive wetlands and highly permeable soils, which happens to be just the case between Heritage Park and Witt Farm. Pipelines would be laid through wetlands, crossing Beaver Creek or the South Branch of River Raisin, climb up the floodplain bluff, crossing farmland and Howell Hwy before reaching the central processing plant. The adjacent farm land and Witt Farm are both on highly permeable soil, meaning that every spill from a leak in a pipe could percolate quickly into the ground water and the aquifer.

I hope the city will not pass the motion of April 1 that was unsuccessful due to a 3:3 vote behind closed doors - or in a second attempt at the next meeting before finally organizing a public forum to investigate what Adrian citizen really think about what is going on with oil and gas extraction in and around the city.

Surveying Continues Throughout Raisin Township and into Tecumseh

Easter Saturday, 3/30/2013 9:00 am: Intensive seismic surveying is reported off Rogers and Sutton Roads.

Pictures of the Adrian Township - Adrian Oil Field

Pictures of the Adrian Township - Adrian Oil Field (KML-File)

1. Hunt Rd. - Tipton Hwy. - Moore Rd.

Well 60347 - supposedly plugged

4-Well Tank Farm (Central Processing Facility) and Well #60285

4-Well Tank Farm (Central Processing Facility) and Well #60639

2. Tipton Hwy. - Moore Rd. - Lenawee Hills (Knight) Hwy -  Emery Rd.

Well and Pump Close to a Luxury Home off of Tipton Hwy. (#60246)

Another Well/Pump off Moore Rd. (#60374)

Another Well/Pump off Moore Rd. (#60253)

Two Wells/Pumps off Knight Hwy. (#60398)

Another Well/Pump off Knight Hwy. (#60331)

Tank Farm Processing 6 Oil Wells, an Injection Well for Brine Disposal, and a Pump off of Knight Hwy Adrian Twsp Michigan

Puffing off gases instead of flaring - what is better?

3. Lenawee Hills (Knight) Hwy. - Shephard Rd.

Oil Pump (#60068) close to Farm off of Knight Hwy Adrian Twsp Michigan

Another 2 Oil Wells with Pumps (#60099 and 60397) off of Knight Hwy Adrian Twsp Michigan

Another 2 Oil Wells with Pumps (#60230 and 60100) off of Knight Hwy Adrian Twsp Michigan

The largest Tank Farm Processing 6 Oil Wells, an Injection Well for Brine Disposal, and a large Flare off of Knight Hwy Adrian Twsp Michigan

A Oil Well with Pump (#60130) off of Shephard Hwy Adrian Twsp Michigan

Yet another Oil Well with Pump (60097) and the largest Tank Farm Processing 6 Oil Wells, an Injection Well for Brine Disposal, and a large Flare off of Knight Hwy Adrian Twsp Michigan

Implementation Headlines from our Future Workshop

FUTURE WORKSHOP: Oil Drilling and Processing in Adrian

Weber Center/Campus of Adrian Dominican Sisters

March 5, 2013

Upstairs Workshop

• New City Boards/CouncilsEnvironmental
  Human Development

• Snowball Effect with Letters - writing more letters so commissioners care to be re-elected
• Petitioning City
• Larger Forum in a school gymnasium
• Speakers Pool to speak for groups/institutions, e.g. Rotary Club
• Information of the public
• Broadcast / Stream previous Forum
• Email Information to mailing list
• Participation in City Hall
• Meet Commissioners
• Raising Awareness
• Gathering in larger groups
• Support/Standup for Victims
• Investigate possibilities for law suits
• Freedom of Information: Follow Money
• Signatures / information about how people were tricked into leases

Downstairs Workshop

• Create a citizens group to engage in variety of activities around this issue.
• Find a way to hire an environmental lawyer to review leases, etc.
• Call on Commission to designate proceeds of oil to monitor air, water, soil
• Call on City Commission to sponsor a Town Hall meeting on the issue.
• Take advantage of opportunities for baseline testing, e.g., Sierra Club offers training.
• Create a nonprofit group to raise money for testing, hiring an attorney.
• Continue to participate in City Commission meetings.
• Press City Commission for publication of a more comprehensive (“extended”) Agenda so citizens know what they’re voting on.
• Become better educated on local government – it’s powers and procedures
• Support Rep. Irwin’s legislation requiring oil companies to disclose chemicals they’re using – and urge others to support it.
• Find larger space to hold additional forums to educate public on these issues.
• Hold oil companies accountable for pre-testing before drilling by an independent company paid for by oil companies.
• Call on City Commission to earmark oil revenues for scholarships for Adrian high school graduates to get higher education. (Some concerns expressed that this might imply acceptance of oil drilling within city.) 
  

Seismic explosions in Heritage Park

Kaboom!