Oil and Natural Gas in the Great Lakes

Ohio should take the lead in pushing for off-shore drilling of oil and natural gas. Why? Because the northern end of our great state may be sitting on something of a mother lode. Our friends in Canada have extracted over 414 billion cubic feet of natural gas and over 85 million barrels of oil already from the Great Lakes Basin. (Source) Why do we not take advantage of our own natural resources? The environmental lobby has shamed our politicians into making sure that we keep our dependence on foreign sources of energy.

You may have noticed this counter on WMD and other sites...



...that is the countdown until the federal ban on off-shore drilling expires. And it will expire if Congress allows it to do so. What happens after that may effect who benefits from the Great Lakes Basin.

Michigan has a permanent ban in place. New York and Wisconsin may also have bans in place by now. Ohio's ban was put in place in 2006, but a permanent ban was also introduced. Ohio ought to rescind whatever ban they put in place and bring those jobs to our great state. We have an opportunity to be leaders in the energy industry and we really shouldn't pass it up.

Environmental Concerns and Safety

Let's talk environmental safety concerns. This is some rather old information from the US Army Corps of Engineers, but I have been unable to find anything that refutes any of these findings.

Since 1959, there have been three oil spill incidents on the Canadian side of Lake Erie, of which only one was directly attributed to a drilling operation. There have been no reported oil releases from subsurface formations into overlying waters during any Canadian drilling or production operations. Approximately 2,200 vertical gas extraction wells have been drilled in Canada under Lake Erie since 1913, approximately 550 of which are currently active. Canadian regulations stipulate that wells drilled directly into the lake bottom may only extract gas. Wells that produce both oil and gas must be plugged and abandoned.

Technology has improved. We have the ability to get these resources safely and cleanly. Canada is already doing it.

Another argument I hear a lot is that we don't know how much oil and natural gas is in these reserves. An industry friend of mine put it this way: "I wonder whether you'd tell a corn farmer the same thing? Obviously, no single corn field – or oil field – will meet demand on its own. But each one makes an important contribution to the total supply." It doesn't matter how much is there; only that it is there and we should go get it.

I'm still looking for updated information on the latest estimates on how much oil and natural gas may be in the Great Lakes Basin so if any of our readers stumbles across this information, please leave a comment or drop me a line.