Monday, August 28, 2006

Oil Under Suburban Detroit

A lot of people do not realize it, but there is a considerable amount of oil and natural gas in Southeastern Michigan but there is a slight problem with retrieving it. It is underneath homes, schools, factories, parks, highways, shopping malls etc. It is underneath the suburbs of Detroit.

At one time the area was an underwater coral reef that absorbed alot of organics that became oil and natural gas.

There isn't enough there to end our long term dependence on foreign oil, but there is a considerable amount there. Bay West wants to extract it. They would take it by angle-drilling, reimbursing the property owners, in all likelihood without changing their property a bit.

There are of course concerns, some of them are legit and need to be dealt with before we do too much more suburban drilling but the problems are not insurmountable, and with today's oil prices, the need for that oil is considerable. Others want that oil and gas to stay there because they want the environment protected at all costs, and there is no foolproof way to remove it.

I say find the safest way possible and retrieve it. You know that nobody wants the smell of a well or a refinery, but in the end we need them. We can do alot to eliminate the threats and we need to make sure these are done but the hydrocarbons are needed.

As far as those who don't want any oil or gas recovered, period, I am sure they would gladly pay a purely voluntary couple of extra dollars a gallon for gas just to prove a point.

Maybe not.

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

If they can guarantee the property won't be damaged or anyone forced to move out, and the home or business owners say it's okay...

Absolutely NO eminent domain crap brought into it. I'd say go ahead then as long as it's done responsibly and common sense is applied to all the concerns.

10:17 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

And Detroit is a major U.S. Muslim population center? Living over oil must get to be a habit after awhile.

12:39 PM  
Blogger shoprat said...

Gunz I agree

seth I don't know how much of it under Dearborn, and that is Mecca USA. I couldn't tell from the map.

9:36 PM  

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