By Malcolm Johnson Associated Press Lawmakers and environmental groups moved Wednesday to ban drilling under the Great Lakes, saying they fear rising fuel prices and a president sympathetic to the oil industry could encourage the practice. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources staff has recommended lifting the moratorium on leasing land under the Great Lakes to drillers as long as they reach the oil and gas from derricks on the shore and not on the lakes.
Scientific experts say such directional drilling poses no danger to the lakes or the shoreline.
But U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, a Democrat from Menominee, said moves to lift the moratorium should be a red flag to anyone who is concerned about threats to the Great Lakes, which contain 20 percent of the world s fresh water and is home to more than 35 million people. He pushed a measure Wednesday that would ban such drilling. Lawmakers from Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, and New York have signed onto the bill. Stupak s warning was echoed by Michigan lawmakers, who held a news conference Wednesday to announce their own proposed ban on directional drilling. There is strong public opposition to such drilling, said State Sen. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township.