Michigan's Department of Natural Resources and Environment is reporting a record oil and gas lease auction of state-owned land - $178 million. "'To put the historic significance of this auction in perspective, since 1929, the state has collected a total of $190 million in bonus payments,' said Lynne Boyd, chief of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment's Forest Management Division, which administers the oil and gas program. 'In one day, we collected nearly as much as we have collected in 81 years.'" Congratulations!
The auction was driven by reports of a successful well drilled in the Utica Shale.