WOC Appeals Powder River Basin CBM Decision

by Tom Darin

In June, Wyoming Federal District Judge Clarence Brimmer handed down a decision that poses a potentially significant setback to our fight for responsible coalbed methane (CBM) development. Judge Brimmer's decision reverses a WOC victory secured after a two-year battle and two favorable decisions by the Department of Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA).

At issue in the case are three lease parcels in the Powder River Basin that Pennaco Energy purchased in 2000 to use for CBM extraction. In an extensive legal proceeding

Judge Brimmer's decision poses a potentially significant setback to our fight for responsible coalbed methane development.

before IBLA, WOC proved what we had been contending for some time: the Bureau of Land Management's environmental study for oil and gas leasing in the basin, completed in 1985, failed to consider CBM or any of its unique water or air impacts. IBLA agreed with WOC, ruling in April 2002 that leases to be used for CBM extraction were sold illegally without the proper environmental studies in place to justify their sale.

In June 2002, Pennaco challenged IBLA's final ruling in Wyoming federal court. In March 2003, after filing comprehensive legal briefs, we argued our case before Judge Brimmer. In June, the judge reversed IBLA's decision, ruling that the BLM could splice together studies from different environmental analyses to allow lease sales for CBM extraction.

The BLM's 1985 study considered a no-leasing alternative and stipulations to protect wildlife and clean air and water from the effects of conventional oil and gas drilling, but failed to consider any of CBM's unique environmental impacts. The one BLM study that did consider CBM impacts - a 1999 document for the Basin's Wyodak oil and gas development project - failed to address whether or not CBM leases should be sold and, if so, whether they should contain stipulations to protect other natural resources.

Nevertheless, Judge Brimmer ruled that these studies could be used together, even though they are separate documents, addressed fundamentally different issues and were completed 14 years apart.

Because of its environmental significance and the national precedent this case will set for the BLM's oil and gas leasing program, WOC and co-counsel Earthjustice have filed an appeal with the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, seeking to overturn the Wyoming court's decision.