Galesburg residents voice opposition to oil lease proposed in city park

GALESBURG, MI -- Emotions ran high at a Galesburg city meeting Thursday, with many residents speaking out against a proposed lease that would grant a private company oil and gas rights in a public park.

Over 80 residents of Galesburg and surrounding areas filled Galesburg City Hall Thursday, Nov. 8. Most asked Galesburg City Council to reject the proposed lease.

Thursday's meeting was intended to be informational, and the city council took no action on the proposal. But the proposal is listed on the agenda for the upcoming Monday, Nov. 12, meeting.

City Hall sits adjacent to the Galesburg Community Park at 200 E. Michigan Ave., where Savoy Energy LP, based in Traverse City, is looking to lease oil and gas rights. The proposed lease states the only surface operation allowed through the lease would be seismic surveys, conducted by the company.

    The company is requesting the oil and gas rights to 22.53 acres of park land, rights currently held by the city of Galesburg. The proposed lease would also grant the company the right to any oil and gas beneath roads, lakes, creeks or rivers adjacent to the property and owned by the city.

    The city park extends south from City Hall to the banks of the Kalamazoo River.

    Citizens voiced concerns over water and air quality, and potential geographic disturbances if oil operations were conducted in the city.

    Many residents asked that council simply say no. During the more than two-hour-long meeting, all but one person offering public comment spoke out against the lease.

    The proximity of the park to the Kalamazoo River was a key concern.

    Residents spoke about the fallout from the 2010 Enbridge Energy's 6B pipeline rupture in the Talmadge Creek that sent 843,000 gallons of diluted bitumen, also known as crude tar sands oil, into the Kalamazoo River tributary.

    John Bolenbaugh, who identified himself as a former Enbridge Energy employee, said he would do everything in his power to keep a new oil operation away from the river.

    "I'm going to spend every dollar I've got to get you voted out if you vote to let (the oil lease) happen," Bolenbaugh said.

    Residents filled Galesburg City Hall Thursday, Nov. 8. Most in attendance asked Galesburg City Council to reject a proposed lease that would give a private oil company rights to oil and gas beneath Galesburg Community Park.

    Representatives from Savoy Energy, though sometimes interrupted by members of the public, attempted to answer questions about the lease.

    The lease would allow the company to conduct a second stage of seismographic testing, Savoy Energy LP representative Steve Dupuie said.

    The first stage of testing was conducted along the road with trucks surveying the area for potential oil reserves through two-dimensional seismographic testing, Dupuie said. After detecting potential mineral reserves in the area, the company must obtain leases from property owners that allow the company to conduct three-dimensional testing on their land.

    "The results of the 3-D seismic -- that will give them the idea that, yes this formation has the potential to produce oil and gas," he said.

    Contractors have acquired several leases from other land owners in the area, Dupuie said. Some of the leases obtained would allow surface operation, including drilling.

    The lease proposed to the city would not allow surface operation on the land, he said.

    "It's a non-developmental lease, where we will not come on the property for roadways, storing tanks, drilling rigs, pipelines," Dupuie said. "It just would allow (Savoy) to include the city land into another producing unit where the city would get payed a royalty on any production."

    Under the Savoy Energy proposal, the city would be given $200 per acre, or $4,506 total, and one-eighth of any resulting royalties.

    In answer to questions fielded by those in attendance, Dupuie said Savoy Energy would not be legally allowed to drill into any land without a lease.

    "The oil is not a lake, it's in solid rock," he said. "If you can imagine a rock that looks something like a sponge that would be full of oil, you can put a straw in part of that sponge and start sucking out some of that oil, but you're not going to dry up the entire sponge. You're going to have to start drilling another well and another well or go horizontal."

    Everyone receiving royalties would know how much oil is in their acreage, how much is being produced and what it is being sold for, Dupuie said.

    Of the city council members in attendance Thursday, only two will still be on the council in January. Three new members were elected in November, as was a new mayor.

    City Council members said the board would likely table any decision on the lease proposal until those new members take office. But the official decision on whether to table that decision would need to wait for the council's next meeting on Monday, Nov. 12, members said.

    Mayor-elect Lori West, who defeated incumbent Mayor Keith Diller in the Nov. 6 election, attended the meeting Thursday. West said there is history that needed to be recognized by oil companies coming into Galesburg.

    "This is a city that is still in trauma," she said, addressing the Savoy Energy representatives. "They still have oil coming up in their yards from Enbridge. It's not your fault.

    "You guys have taken a beating, I get that. But understand where you're coming into. There's trauma here."

    West's main question to Savoy Energy and members of city council was, "Do the risks outweigh the financial benefits?"

    The lease was proposed to the Galesburg City Council, reviewed by the council's attorney, amended and then resubmitted for the council's consideration.

    Savoy has been speaking at various council meetings throughout the year, Councilwoman Judy Lemon said. The council has not taken action on any lease and will listen to the public, she added.

    At the October council meeting, a Galesburg resident requested the council hold a public comment meeting to discuss the proposed lease. The council granted the resident's request, but the resident said he did not think they would have held a meeting if he had not asked for one.

    Many residents asked why they were just hearing about the lease now.

    Lemon encouraged residents to attend more council meetings and said the council would listen to residents and act based on their wishes because city land belongs to the public.

    "You are the people who are going to make these decisions," she said. " We're not a separate entity that's going to just go ahead and Juggerknot through this whole situation."