US judge blocks gas drilling in Michigan forest

[flashl]

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - A federal judge has overturned a decision by the U.S. Forest Service to allow oil and gas drilling near a forest and a river in Michigan's northern Lower Peninsula.

U.S. District Judge David Lawson of Detroit ruled Thursday the agency had acted "arbitrarily and capriciously" in 2005 by giving Savoy Energy LP of Traverse City a permit to drill an exploratory well near the Au Sable River's south branch.

The proposed wellhead would be located in the Huron-Manistee National Forest about three-tenths of a mile from the Mason Tract, a 4,679-acre wilderness area prized by anglers and other outdoor recreationists.

Forest supervisor Leanne Marten said when approving Savoy's application that the project wouldn't significantly harm the environment and the company would be required to keep noise to a minimum.

Yahoo

[DainBramaged]

1. Stop them at the gate

SOME judges still prize the environment

[amandabeech]

2. They need to move the drilling much further away from the Mason Tract

and the Kirtland's Warbler habitat. Kirtland's should be the state bird, IMHO.

If the gas and oil prices stay up, and I think that they will, there will be drilling much further off, perhaps in an area with a little development and second growth.