LANSING, MI – The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has received an applications from an energy company to drill a well in Ravenna Township designated for hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking.

“Rosetta Resources has made application to the DEQ to drill in Ravenna Township,” said Adam Wygant, a section supervisor with the Michigan DEQ’s office of oil, gas and minerals.

A different company already has a permit to drill a fracking well just west of Hart in Oceana County. Details about that permit were not immediately available on Thursday, March 28.

In Ravenna Township, the Michigan branch of Houston-based Rosetta Resources is applying to drill vertically and horizontally and to use a fracking technique on the well. Wygant said the application was received March 12 by the Michigan DEQ.

The well would be located a short distance northeast of the village of Ravenna. Wygant wasn't sure what the street address is on the site where the well would be located.

Energy companies use the fracking technique to extract oil and gas from rock by injecting high-pressure mixtures of water, sand or gravel with chemicals. Rosetta Resources is hoping to extract A1 carbonate, a geologic formation laden with petroleum common under Michigan's Lower Peninsula.

“Companies typically drill a vertical pilot (well) down to the (geological) formation,” Wygant said, to do further study.

They then can decide whether or not to continue and keep drilling by branching out horizontally or fracking.

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Rosetta Resources would inject 2.1 million gallons of fluid into the ground for the fracking procedure, according to its application, Wygant said. The fluid is collected from the well later in the process, along with the oil or natural gas.

The land owner leasing mineral rights to Rosetta Resources, listed on the application, is Donald W. Swanson, Wygrant said. Swanson is a longtime area farmer and the retired president of Swanson Pickle Co.

Fracking has become a hot issue in politics recently, with its opponents saying the practice poses a risk to the environment. However, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality says that the practice has been used regularly without serious incident and regulators don't support halting it.

“It’s something the state has been overseeing for decades,” said Michigan DEQ spokesman Brad Wurfel.

The DEQ is reviewing Rosetta Resources' application for 30 days beginning March 12 to determine if it is complete. The agency then has 20 more days after declaring the application complete to decide whether to issue a permit.

That would mean a fracking permit might not be issued until May.

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