Big Ideas for Energy and Land Use

A billion barrels of Michigan oil. A new way to fill state coffers with millions and millions of dollars in new mineral royalties. And intensified pressures to develop public lands. Those are some of the possible outcomes of ongoing high-level talks in Lansing to develop a statewide energy plan. At the center of the talks is a company called M & M Energy. The company plans a Great Lakes Energy Research Park (pdf) in mid-Michigan. The project calls for a building clean coal power plant and injecting large amounts of carbon dioxide deep into the ground to bring forth as many as one billion barrels of trapped oil (pdf). It could be an economic boon for the struggling state. It could also intensify land use debates in northern Michigan.