Hours before Governor Gretchen Whitmer delivers her State of the State address- the committee to ban fracking in Michigan held a rally to raise awareness about the dangers the say results from fracking.
Protester Paul Van Oyen, said he braced the cold to rally because he wants fracking in the state to end.
“We don’t want fracking in our own state because what do we do with that waste?,” Van Oyen said. We’re a peninsula surrounded by 20 percent of the world’s fresh water and we don’t wanna contaminate that water. There are tens of millions of people depending upon the water in the great lakes,” he said.
Those who support fracking say that it creates jobs and boosts manufacturing, but opponents often argue that it harms the environment and creates air pollution.
The group hosting the event, wants to leave the question up to voters and put a fracking ban on the ballot this year —and is currently in a legal battle with the state over submitted signatures.
