BLM Right to Extend Comment Period for EIS

The following editorial appeared in the Casper Star-Tribune on July 7, 2000 and is reprinted with permission.

Under pressure from the Wyoming Outdoor Council (WOC), the U.S. Bureau of Land Management has extended the comment period to allow the public more time to be included in the start of the process to develop an environmental impact statement.  This EIS will encompass oil and gas development - largely coalbed methane in the Powder River Basin.

The BLM had not filed an official notice of scoping meetings in the Federal Register until June 21, two weeks after those meetings had already been held.  The comment period was to have ended on June 30, effectively giving the public only nine days in which to respond.

WOC's criticism caused the BLM to extend the scoping comment period on the draft EIS through July 31.

The coalbed methane industry is expanding so swiftly in Wyoming that it has been difficult to keep up with the current impact on the state's land and water.  It will be even more difficult to project what that impact is likely to be when there are thousands of wells in place on BLM land in the Powder River Basin.

The BLM should welcome all relevant comments on the issue.  We recognize that from a national perspective coalbed methane is a significant clean-burning fuel that should be developed.  However, there are important local issues regarding water needs of ranchers, residential and ranch wells, aquifers, and the possible impacts of flushing water onto the ground that has been pumped out of the coal seams to release the coalbed methane gas.

We are pleased that the BLM moved to give people more time to comment on coalbed methane development in the Powser River Basin.  The resulting environmental impact statement may be one of the most important examinations of development the BLM has ever done in our state.