There were about 100 people at the latest Town Hall Meeting and Mr Jim Nash, our elected Water Resources Commissioner gave an hour-long presentation on the dangers of fracking in our community. Earthquakes, poisoned water and a 25% drop in property values are among the things we can expect if we let these frackers in. At least 2 million and up to 20 million gallons of treated water are needed for each well and they truck it in. 2000 + trucks filled with noxious chemicals will travel across our roads for each well . The water is so poisonous they try to suck it out so that it can be injected into an even deeper well. Problem is, they can only retrieve half of it and the rest starts to percolate up through the soil in some cases. After the presentation a very nice young lady stood up and gave a very impassioned plea. Her family has been in White Lake for generations and she currently lives near the oil wells near Indian Springs Metro Park. She related how since the drilling her water is black with oil and you can't contact the drilling company without a lawyer, all the drilling companies have the same address and it is that of a law office. She warned us not to trust these companies and she received the largest ovation of the evening. Then at the end Terry Lilly gave a 3 minute speech admitting he is helpless when it comes to protecting our groundwater. He said there is nothing he could do currently but what he needs is people at the state level to give our township's elected officials the power to control our own water, then stopping short of saying that he would actually do something if he were able. "People think we are supermen because we sit on the board here in White Lake but this is a state matter". Township Supervisor Greg Baroni agreed and admitted he was helpless as well stating there is nothing he could do either.
As it turned out there were more pro-frackers there from the board (2) then in the audience (1).
Someone in the crowd mentioned their encounter with our state representative in Lansing Eileen Kowall and said she is very much in favor of destroying our environment for the sake of obtaining natural gas.
Next elections are not too far off and if candidates for all positions were to come forward and started saying things like, "I will do everything I can to protect the property values and drinking water of White Lake" I am sure they would be a shoo-in cause Frick and Frack +1 ain't doin' nothing...
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