State Weakens Pollution Rules for Coalbed Methane Developers
by Dan Heilig
In what has become an all too familiar scenario,
the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has agreed to roll
back environmental regulations designed to protect Wyoming’s environment
in order to expedite an already thriving coalbed methane industry in northeast
Wyoming.
In early March the Environmental Quality Council
(EQC), a citizen board hand-picked by Governor Geringer, voted to approve
changes requested by the oil and gas industry to the state’s water quality
regulations. The changes will allow increased levels of arsenic, barium,
iron and manganese in lakes, rivers and streams throughout the Powder River
Basin. These pollutants are found in groundwater removed from coalbed aquifers
to stimulate gas production and then discharged into surface waters.
According to information provided by the DEQ, arsenic
"is known to exhibit toxic effects on aquatic life and is listed by the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a human carcinogen." DEQ
also acknowledges "there are adverse health effects associated with elevated
concentrations of barium." Increased levels of iron and manganese are harmful
to aquatic species and can cause staining and discoloration of streambeds.
Conservationists protest rule
change
Several citizens and environmental organizations including
WOC and the Sheridan-based Powder River Basin Resource Council testified
against the rule change, arguing that it would cause unacceptable and unnecessary
increases in water pollution as well as set a harmful precedent which would
encourage other industries bothered by regulation to request similar treatment.
WOC member Ray Corning pointed out that "if removal
of certain standards is accepted from one special-interest group, the doors
of the Board and DEQ will soon be crowded with other special-interest groups
asking for comparable dispensations." Sure enough, just minutes after Ray’s
statement, a representative of the J.M. Huber Corporation requested that
the proposal to allow more pollution be extended to include the Tongue
River.
Profits trump protections
The boom taking place in the Powder River Basin is
regarded throughout the industry as the hottest "gas play" in the United
States. Thousands of wells have been permitted, and tens of thousands more
are anticipated. Drilling is taking place at a frenetic pace.
Why, then, would the DEQ even consider a proposal
to weaken water quality protections? It’s apparently cheaper for the companies
to employ lobbyists and consultants to roll back environmental regulations
than it is to re-inject produced water back into the aquifer or to install
available pollution control technologies.
WOC mulls legal challenge
The Wyoming Environmental Quality Act lays out specific
requirements the DEQ must follow in developing or revising rules and regulations.
One of the requirements apparently not followed by the DEQ is the duty
to "consider all the facts and circumstances bearing upon the reasonableness
of the pollution including the…technical practicability and economic reasonableness
of reducing or eliminating the source of pollution."
What this means, in a practical sense, is that
before approving any rule or standard that will cause more pollution, the
DEQ must examine whether there are any means available to reduce or eliminate
pollution at its source.
WOC and others who commented on the rule change
urged the DEQ to review available pollution control technologies as well
as re-injection of produced waters before granting the industry’s request
to weaken the rule. These calls went unheeded. We are considering filing
a lawsuit that would seek to overturn the rule allowing more pollution,
based on the agency’s failure to consider alternatives to reduce it at
the source.
What You Can Do
Please contact Governor Geringer and urge him to
reject the rule change proposed by industry. Ask him to impose an
immediate moratorium on coalbed methane production until the environmental
consequences of basin-wide aquifer depletion are better understood.
Governor Jim Geringer
State Capitol Building
Cheyenne, WY 82002
Tel: (307) 777-7434
Fax: (307) 632-3909
e-mail: governor@state.wy.us
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