Michigan Oil and Gas News
Michigan's first commercially viable discoveries of oil occurred in the city of Saginaw in 1925. Over time the majority of counties in the lower peninsula proved to have commercially viable oil fields. By the 1990s sixty-three counties had commercial oil or natural gas wells in operation.
Extracting oil and natural gas is both a major state industry and a subject of controversy. In 1934 an industry group, the Michigan Oil and Gas Association, was founded. At times the industry and other interests worked in tandem. For example, gushers such as the 1941 well pictured here were both economically wasteful and environmental hazardous. New technologies in the 1940s made blow-outs a thing of the past.
In the 1960s, however, intense debates occurred between enviromentalists and petroleum producers over drilling in wilderness areas. The result was the creation in 1971 of the Michigan natural Resources Trust Fund. Royalties and other fees due the state for oil and gas drilling are paid into the fund which is used to improve recreational land use throughout the state. Over approximately 30 years the fund has invested more than one-half billion dollars into recreational lands.
The Clarke Library holds important records documenting the state's oil and gas industry.