Great_Lakes_Drilling

Great Lakes Drilling The Risk of Pollution from Drilling under the Great Lakes is to great The Great Lakes contain 20 percent of the world’s freshwater and is home to more than 35 million people. Currently there is a ban against directional drilling under the Great Lakes. Directional drilling enables oil and gas deposits beneath the lakes to be tapped from a distance. Regulations require that the rig is located 1,500 feet or more inland from the shore, where a vertical bore is drilled to the depth of approximately 1000 feet. The hole is then deviated at an angle toward the bedrock underlying the lake until it reaches oil or gas deposits some 4,900 feet beneath the water’s surface. (1) There is the fear that with rising gas prices, reliance on foreign oil, and a president who is sympathetic to the oil industry, that attempts may be made to reverse the ban. If drilling were allowed there is the danger of possible accidents, causing health risks to humans, fish and wildlife and devastation to the tourism industry of the area. The risks of pollution from oil and gas drilling under the Great Lakes far outweigh any benefits gained from oil, lakes, great, gas, drilling, water, michigan, wildlife, tourism, industry, feet, accidents, under, risks, risk, quality, potential, people, national, large, lake, impact, drinking, directional, cause, beneath, ban, www, work, wells, surface, sulfide, states, rigs, pollution