In a satellite view of Michigan, the Barry and Allegan State Game Areas can be seen as darker green, textured areas of forest in the satellite image. These areas are in contrast to the rest of the land that is lighter green, mowed, tilled, and divided up with roads.
The game areas were designated by the State Legislature as lands of special value to be protected for the myriad of organisms that live there. However, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has repeatedly offered these protected areas for oil and gas leases.
Another lease auction that includes 22,000 acres of state-owned oil and gas lease rights in A
llegan, Kalamazoo, Kent, and 17 other counties is scheduled to take place on Thursday, Oct. 28. Nationwide, 34 million acres of public lands had been leased by the end of 2014, and another 200 million acres are currently being targeted.
The practice of leasing state-owned mineral rights should be reviewed in light of the current technology in oil and gas extraction. If the leases that have been sold in the game areas are ever developed by oil and gas companies, heavy industrial activities will take place.
A minimum of five acres will be clear cut for each well pad, roads will be built, storage tanks and chemicals will be brought in, and methane will be vented into the air. This will all be done for the profit of the com
panies, not because the energy products are needed so desperately that it is ethically worth it to destroy the large greenspace of the protected lands.
Take a look at the satellite image of pure Michigan and imagine how it would have looked 100 or 200 years ago. The protected areas in Allegan and Barry counties are probably an example of historic forested areas in southwest Michigan. Why risk destroying them with oil and gas exploration activities?
Cindy Vigneron, 6730 Brittanywood Drive, Delton
