Interior Department Backs WOC & PRBRC on Illegal Coalbed Methane Development

by Tom Darin

In early October, the Department of Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) issued a preliminary decision on an appeal filed by WOC and the Powder River Basin Resource Council (PRBRC). The appeal challenges the legality of the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM's) February 2000 sale of oil and gas leases for coalbed methane (CBM) development. WOC and PRBRC also filed a motion, called a "request for stay," asking IBLA to immediately halt all activity on the leases until our appeal is decided, a process that may take a year or more to resolve.

In its 12-page opinion, IBLA agreed with WOC and PRBRC that it is highly likely that the BLM violated both the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) on three lease parcels.

A key influence in the Board's decision was the BLM's earlier admission to Congress that the Buffalo Resource Management Plan (RMP) did not address CBM impacts, rendering CBM development on federal lands in the Powder River Basin illegal.

Although IBLA's decision only affects CBM operations on 2,640 acres leased at the February 2000 sale by the Gillette-based company, Powder River Resources, it has much broader ramifications. Indeed, IBLA's decision may well set the stage for ensuring that all CBM development in the Powder River Basin is legal, environmentally responsible and safe.

Because leases have been sold in the Powder River Basin for years, using the same outdated Buffalo RMP as justification, the legality of all CBM leases in the PRB is called into question. We have told the BLM time and time again how important it is to conduct thorough environmental studies on CBM impacts, prior to, and not after, the leases are sold and developed. IBLA's decision validates our conviction that much of the CBM activity on federal lands in the basin is illegal.

WOC executive director Dan Heilig noted that IBLA's opinion "is a significant first step in ensuring that CBM development in the Powder River Basin is done in an environmentally responsible manner. It's unfortunate that we had to go this far in the appeals process to hear from a judge what we have been telling Wyoming BLM officials for years-that the Buffalo RMP must be amended to account for CBM development."

It remains to be seen how this decision will affect previous illegally sold leases, current CBM projects that are based on illegal leases, future BLM lease sales and even the BLM's entire planning process. With 35,000 CBM wells projected in the Powder River Basin in the next 15 years, such development must be legally defensible, environmentally sound and safe for all citizens.