LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Opponents of oil and gas drilling in urban areas will greet Michigan lawmakers returning for a monthlong session before the fall election.
Residents from Detroit and Ann Arbor suburbs plan to lobby legislators Tuesday on legislation to restrict drilling in cities or township with more than 70,000 residents. West Bloomfield Township Supervisor Michele Ureste is organizing the visit with support from residents in Shelby Township and Scio Township.
Drilling has been met with local opposition in those areas and elsewhere.
Two Republican senators introduced the bill last month. Environmentalists want it to be broadened to all communities regardless of their size.
The residents who plan to visit the Capitol also support Democratic-sponsored bills to tighten state regulation of hydraulic fracturing, which releases natural gas trapped in deep underground rock formations.
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