Opponents of Beeland
Group, LLC (a subsidiary of CMS Energy), have filed a lawsuit in Michigan 13th Circuit Court to halt the injection well project in Alba. Although the EPA and MDEQ approved a permit for Beeland to move forward with a test injection well at this site, Star Township, Antrim County, Friends of the Jordan River
Watershed and mineral owners believe the project will "pollute, impair or destroy natural
resources, including, but not limited to surface water and groundwater,
oil, gas or other minerals and natural habitat.” Beeland proposes to truck 135,000 gallons of leachate seepage a day (about 1 million
gallons of seepage a week) for 10 years to a well located five miles
east of Alba, treat it to reduce its pH from highly caustic levels and
inject it to total depth of 2,450 feet beneath the ground. Petroskey News reports:
According to the affidavit of Dr. James McClurg, a professor of geology and geophysics at the University of Wyoming — one of three expert witnesses for the plaintiffs’ case — it states that leachate seepage will be injected into the Lucas/Dundee Formation, which developed 354-391 million years ago, which he says is “both porous and permeable and filled with saline water which contains oil and natural gas in places.”
