Community Involvement: Oil in Galesburg

Galesburg, Michigan. A small town roughly twenty minutes from Kalamazoo. There’s not much to do in this town nestled right on the Kalamazoo River, a few restaurants, antique stores, and several parks in the area. One of these parks, Galesburg Community Park, is the topic of controversy. On Thursday, November 8, I met up with Andrew Cannon, a personal friend of mine. He is the owner of the Koffee Klutch, a coffee shop in Galesburg. Andrew is also a member of the Galesburg Area Business and Community Association and a city-appointed board member of the Downtown Development Authority. He really cares about his town. As we headed toward city hall, he told me about a controversy that occurred a couple years ago. The same company wanted to drill on a park called Scotts Mill Park, which is a few miles away from Galesburg. The people protested so the city rejected the offer. Unfortunately, the people who owned the land right next to Scotts Mill Park sold the rights to their land, and drilling occurred anyway. As we pulled up to city hall, Andrew told me he had never seen such an abundance of cars in the parking lot. It seemed that this meeting was going to be very big. And big it was. When we walked in, the room was full. The background is this: Savoy Energy wishes to obtain a lease to conduct 3D Seismic testing on 22 acres of land at Galesburg Community Park.

Park property outlined in pink

Galesburg Community Park

This lease would also give them rights to any oil and gas beneath roads, lakes, and rivers adjacent to the park. Needless to say, the citizens at this Public Comment meeting were very vehemently against the proposition. There was a representative from the Savoy Energy present, to answer any questions, but he did not have answers to the questions that a lot of the citizens had, such as specific terminology of details in the lease. More than 50 people were at this meeting, and in total, 22 citizens stood and shared their concerns. At one point, a discussion on what would happen if the city was damaged or polluted. Would Savoy pay for the damages? The representative assured the room that, yes, they would, but several citizens stood up and said that they are aware of other cities where the oil company didn’t pay for the damage without a long, arduous legal battle. “Oil companies never leave the town as good as they found it,” said one citizen as he was voicing his concerns about the ordeal. Overall, the meeting started to get very heated. Most of the citizens in attendance were the type of people who probably haven’t done any sort of research or studying since they graduated high school, but nearly everyone had notebooks and folders filled with information about this specific type of oil drilling process. Back in 2010, the biggest inland oil spill occurred on the Kalamazoo River. Many of the people who live in this area own land along the river and are still dealing with the effects of the oil spill nearly a decade later. The people of Galesburg are very passionate about their land. They love the land, the river, the woods, the animals. They are well aware of the dangers that oil drilling can bring, and some are even dealing with the effects of the drilling being done at Scott’s Mill Park.  If drilling occurs anyway, it will not end well for the city’s government.