COALBED METHANE-Coming to a Town Near You

by Tom Darin

By now, most of us have read about environmental problems generated by coalbed methane development in northeast Wyoming, particularly in the Powder River Basin. But that’s their problem, right? Wrong. Coalbed methane development (CBM) is spreading statewide, and should concern all of us.

For example, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is now gathering public input for the proposed 96-well Atlantic Rim CBM project near Baggs.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop there. All of the following counties have coalbed methane wells: Bighorn, Campbell, Carbon, Converse, Johnson, Natrona, Sheridan, Sweetwater and Uinta. Tribal authorities have reportedly been contacted regarding CBM development on the Wind River Reservation. In fact, because methane is found virtually anywhere coal fields are located, the current boom in CBM extraction is only the tip of the iceberg.

Prominent geologist Walter R. Merschat describes CBM development in Wyoming as an "out of control, runaway boom" with "environmentally disastrous impacts." In light of these serious concerns, WOC is stepping up its efforts to curtail CBM development until its environmental threats are more thoroughly understood and assessed.

CBM and its hazards

The methane locked in these coal seams is generally less expensive to extract than natural gas found in other geological formations. CBM is removed by "dewatering." Because water pressure in aquifers essentially keeps the methane trapped in the coal seams, removing the water — dewatering — releases this pressure and allows the methane to migrate to the surface in drilled wells.

The biggest environmental hazard associated with coalbed methane extraction is directly linked to the dewatering process. Enormous amounts of water, anywhere from 20,000 to 40,000 gallons per day per well, are discharged onto the ground surface. This torrent of produced water causes soil erosion, stream sedimentation and cut banks, vegetation loss and increased pollutants in watersheds, and can eventually cause ground surface subsidence.

Discharged water also depletes local aquifers and water tables, causing landowners’ wells to run dry. No credible studies document how many months or years it will take for these aquifers to sufficiently recharge. With recent projections of 30,000 to 50,000 wells in the Powder River Basin, the amount of water that may be drawn from groundwater resources and recklessly poured out onto the ground in the Powder River Basin could easily reach one billion gallons of water each day for the next 10 to 20 years.

Another environmental concern is methane migration to the surface, which can pose serious risks to human health from methane explosions as well as harm soils, vegetation and burrowing mammals. In addition, there is the very real possibility of uncontrollable underground coal seam fires caused by spontaneous combustion. (See "Coalbed Methane: Gas Boom, Environmental Bust," Frontline, Fall 1999).

WOC tackles unchecked CBM boom

More recently, the BLM asked for public comment on the Lower Prairie Dog Creek CBM project near Sheridan, which proposes developing 190 wells, all of which will affect the waters of Lower Prairie Dog Creek and the Tongue River.

WOC members in the Sheridan area provided comments to the BLM, countering the agency’s conclusion in its environmental assessment (EA) that the Lower Prairie Dog Creek project posed no significant environmental threats. Last November, after the BLM approved the project, WOC, joined by the Powder River Basin Resource Council (PRBRC) and Sheridan County resident Mike Foate, filed an administrative appeal with the Wyoming BLM State Director.

The appeal documented the EA’s numerous factual errors and faulty assumptions concerning the likely number of CBM wells in the project area and the actual CBM well water discharge rate. For example, there are already 217 permitted CBM wells on private lands alone in the Lower Prairie Dog Creek area. Adding nearly 200 more wells would double the water discharge rate and substantially boost other environmental hazards — points ignored in the EA. We noted that this omission and a number of other errors rendered all of the BLM’s assumptions and impact analyses concerning aquifer depletion and ground water discharge virtually useless.

Other significant omissions in the EA included a lack of analysis of cumulative impacts on wildlife and fisheries, no mention of methane migration hazards and no discussion of threats from underground fires. Moreover, the EA failed to analyze an important mitigation measure: requiring developers to re-inject discharged water into the aquifer to prevent serious groundwater depletion and keep discharged water from destroying surface resources.  The State BLM Director rejected our appeal in February. In March, again joined by PRBRC and Foate, we appealed the decision to the Department of Interior’s Board of Land Appeals (IBLA). Our appeal seeks an immediate stay of the Lower Prairie Dog Creek project, citing the irreversible harm that will occur if it proceeds during the appeal process. A decision from IBLA is expected in early May.

Protesting other leases

WOC, again in concert with PRBRC, filed a protest with the Wyoming BLM State Director challenging the sale of all leases where CBM extraction was likely to occur. Our protest pointed out that the BLM Buffalo area office’s resource management plan (RMP) for the land where the 49 lease parcels are located does not contain any specific analysis of the environmental hazards unique to CBM extraction. In addition, the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA), which governs management of all BLM lands, requires that all land uses conform to RMPs. The Buffalo area RMP was completed in the mid-1980s, long before CBM extraction was considered desirable. In fact, the RMP’s only mention of CBM noted it as a hazard.

Unfortunately, the BLM ignored our protest and leased 48 of the 49 parcels. As Frontlinegoes to press, the agency still has not decided the merits of our protest and is conferring with its counsel. If the BLM decides in our favor, it will reverse its decision to lease the parcels and refund deposit money to the lessees.

The runaway boom in CBM extraction continued with the April 4 sale of another 189 lease parcels across the state. WOC, PRBRC, the Conservancy of the Phoenix and Biodiversity Associates joined forces to formally challenge 122 of these leases. Our protest pointed out that these leases, all of which are located in areas where there is current CBM development, cannot be sold by the BLM because such sales violate FLPMA and the National Environmental Policy Act, both of which require environmental analysis and the chance for meaningful public participation before public lands are leased for oil and gas exploration.

WOC is also working to increase public awareness of coalbed methane issues, encourage citizen participation in the debate about CBM development and aggressively pursue administrative appeals on every CBM project approved by BLM that violates federal law. Future actions may include addressing water quantity and quality problems with the appropriate state agencies and challenging existing oil and gas leases where CBM is being extracted in violation of federal law.