(Sen.) Stabenow to Obama: Discuss Great Lakes oil drilling ban with Canada

[Ed Barrow]

Source: Detroit News

Sen. Debbie Stabenow wants President Barack Obama to meet with Canadian officials to talk about the safety of oil rigs in Lake Erie and ask for authorities there to ban any new drilling in the Great Lakes.

Though American waters in the Great Lakes have been off-limits to new drilling since 2002 due to a ban authored by Stabenow -- one made permanent in 2005 -- underwater drilling in Canadian waters has taken place along the north shore of Lake Erie.

Stabenow, D-Lansing, first brought up the issue in a conference call with reporters earlier this month, saying she was concerned about the safety of drilling operations and the ability of companies that drill to handle a cleanup if something were to go wrong.

In response to questions from The Detroit News, a spokeswoman from Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources said her agency would be willing to sit down and discuss the issue with American officials, noting the Great Lakes are "a shared natural resource."


Read more: http://www.detnews.com/article/20100616/LIFESTYLE14/6160415/1022/Stabenow-to-Obama--Discuss-Great-Lakes-oil-drilling-ban-with-Canada

[MichiganVote]

1. There will NOT be drilling for oil in the Great Lakes.

Michigan residents would go to war over that one.

[knitter4democracy]

2. They already are in Canadian waters.

There's some under Lake Erie, supposedly. There's oil in Michigan up by Alma and in the middle of the state, and we don't exactly have the best track record on keeping our waters and soil clean.

[amandabeech]

3. There are and have been oil wells on the west side of the state

between Muskegon and Ludington, most very close to the Big Lake.

Many of the fields are old and are a real mess.

No one out there wants any drilling under the Lake, even if it is a horizontal well with the drilling apparatus on land away from the beaches and dunes.

Seeing what has happened in the Gulf, I think that they are right.