Oil and the Irish Hills

Thar's gold in them that hills. It's been know for several years now that the area in Jackson and Lenawee Counties called the Irish Hills has had oil. The area currently produces about 2% oil the oil used by Michigan residents and is the largest oil producing part of the state.

But of course, angst follows the wells. The people in the area, even those benefiting from oil pumps on their own property, worry about the long term affects. Chief amongst the worries are the environmental concerns which come naturally with the oil industry, as well as problems such as road damage which come with the heavier trucks needed to haul oil and oil related items in and out of the area.

There are worries about contamination of the drinking water and the odor of petroleum, fears of earthquakes which may result from the drilling. To be sure, none of the issues are invalid. They seem to get right to the heart of the trouble with our nation's need for oil: we need it, yet wherever it's found it's going be at the least inconvenient for the locale.

What can we say about that? The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, as a general rule. We need oil and there's some where you live. Beyond a genuine, verifiably serious risk to your homes and well being, we don't know what else to say. We need to get to the crude.

That sounds cruder than we mean it. But, sadly, sometimes things simply are what they are and no one can really do much about it. Sure, it's easy to say that those of us who don't have to deal directly with the smells and the road destruction and the worry about the future for the locals to say, go on and drill it. But, what else do you want us to do? What else can you do? It simply is what it is; might as well make the best of it.

Sometimes life is a bowl of cherries. Sometimes it's a bowl of lemons. After finding out which, you just have to do the best you can with what you've got. Our sympathies are with the folks in the Irish Hills. But our overall well being needs the oil. It's another one those trade offs life forces on us as a whole. We do what is best within reason, and be grateful that it isn't worse.