A green light for methane development
The latest plans for drilling up to 65,000
new coalbed methane wells in the Powder River Basin could leave the
landscape pockmarked by 4,000 ponds that would eventually dry up
into salt-encrusted pits.
That’s the word from local
environmentalists and ranchers who are facing off with a half-dozen
energy corporations, state agencies and the federal government
(HCN, 11/5/01: Wyoming’s powder keg). They’re dismayed by the
final environmental impact statements — one for
Wyoming’s portion of the basin, one for Montana’s
portion — released Jan. 10 by the Bureau of Land
Management.
The impact statements cover federal mineral
rights in the 9.5 million-acre basin, which already has about
12,500 methane wells, where mineral rights belong to the states or
private interests. Each well can discharge up to 20,000 gallons of
groundwater a day, and water quality varies from crystal clear to
highly salty.
The “preferred alternatives” now
call for storing salty water in thousands of man-made, unlined
ponds. Critics say that would still allow the water to seep out,
impacting drinking-water wells, streams and rivers.
BLM
scientists say the key is finding the right soil type. “You
want a medium texture soil where there would be some seepage
— but down into the deeper aquifer,” not into streams,
says BLM hydrologist Robert Mitchell.
The Final EISes are
posted on BLM Web sites: www.prb-eis.org for Wyoming,
www.mt.blm.gov/mcfo for Montana. Only people who commented on the
draft EISes last year are allowed to “protest” the
final versions. Protests can be sent until Feb. 18 to: Director of
BLM, attn. Brenda Williams, Protest Coordinator, P.O. Box 66538,
Washington, D.C., 20035.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline A green light for methane development.
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