The Legislature passed five oil and gas reform bills into law, and considered 12 others. The new laws add protections for state-owned land, increase fees on wells to strengthen industry oversight, require sale of state-owned severed mineral rights to the land's surface owners, move forced pooling hearings into the affected region of drilling, and require the state to consider health and safety in permitting decisions.

Unfortunately, ugly partisan politics prevented passage of the dozen other proposals, including a bill to protect nine northern Michigan watersheds and Lake Michigan from oil and gas development, which the Coalition is working to have reintroduced this year. The Coalition also is seeking to permanently set aside from drilling, under the new State Land Reserve Act, the magnificent state-owned lands surrounding the Jordan and Pigeon rivers and in the Ludington State Park.

Courthouse Renovation Gains Support
The Leelanau County Courthouse has been in the center of the village of Leland for 106 years. It is a central hub of daily activity, and helps keep local businesses open in winter when tourist dollars get scarce.

But in 1998 a movement to relocate the courthouse to a field outside of Lake Leelanau gained force. In November, voters were asked to choose between moving the courthouse or renovating it.

The Institute helped mount a publicity and advertising campaign to show voters that the relocation would open the spigot to sprawl and cost at least $9 million more than renovation. Voters rejected both measures, an impressive accomplishment since the courthouse move had little opposition in the months before the election. Local residents will continue to work for a cost-effective renovation based on the county's actual needs.

Taking On Livestock Factories
In the fall of 1998 we learned that a massive livestock factory had moved into Mason County, cramming 8,000 hogs into four confinement buildings. Not only is this mass-production operation inhumane, the unregulated excrement from it is equal to the residential sewage discharged by a city the size of East Lansing.

We quickly discovered that Mason County is not alone. The number of livestock factories in Michigan's rural counties has been expanding for several years, thanks to state subsidies and, more recently, Lansing's efforts to exclude Michigan from proposed, more stringent federal rules.

We also learned from internal documents that the Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA) regularly closes complaints about potential environmental problems before they are resolved. The damage to land and water can be devastating. Consider the case of a 3,000-head dairy operation that was responsible in 1997 for five manure spills into cold water trout streams. These spills took place after at least six years of agriculture department inspectors closing complaints, even though the producer consistently failed to fix the source of the problems.

In 1999 the Institute will work to convince the state to enforce environmental laws and develop more effective regulations for massive livestock operations. Simultaneously, we will help local governments safeguard their communities by zoning for industrial livestock agriculture and by countering attempts in the Legislature to take away local governments' power.