An Inside Look at Coal Bed Methane

by Amy Frykman, Northern Plains Resource Council

Once a serious safety threat for underground miners, the methane gas contained in most coal beds is a clean-burning fuel now in high demand. Methane is held in coal seams by water pressure. Developers dewater coal seams to get out the methane, pumping out billions of gallons of precious groundwater.

What's the Problem? The extraction, production, and distribution of methane gas can have severe impacts on rural agricultural communities. Coal bed methane (CBM) is considered part of the gas estate, and once a company acquires a lease for the gas rights from a landowner or a government agency, it may enter the land, drill wells, build roads, pipelines, and compressor stations without landowner consent. CBM development can impact land, water, wildlife and communities in many ways.

Water Quality. An average well pumps over 17,000 gallons of water a day, or 6.2 million gallons a year, from coal bed aquifers. This water is too salty to use for irrigation or agriculture, and pumping it into streams and rivers poses a threat to fish and wildlife because of high levels of contaminants such as ammonia. In Montana, over 100 wells are currently discharging directly into the Tongue River upstream from the Tongue River dam. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) estimates that Montana could have as many as 26,000 wells in the next decade.

Dried-Up Wells. In the Powder River and San Juan Basins, the level of some drinking water wells near coal bed methane development has dropped as a result of water being removed from coal beds. In the Powder River Basin, federal BLM monitoring wells indicate that the level in the aquifer has dropped over 200 feet! No one knows whether this groundwater will ever be replenished or how long it might take.

Surface Disturbance. Wells require a network of access roads, drilling sites, pipelines, power lines, compressor stations, and containment ponds. This chops up agricultural land, disturbing wildlife and ranch operations.

Noise. In order to ship methane to market, the gas must first be compressed in a compressor. Even with mufflers, a compressor can be heard a mile away. Heavy vehicle traffic on access roads likewise produces noise, as well as dust. Because the State has not yet studied the effects of CBM development on the environment or rural communities, it is unknown to what extent this noise disrupts nesting patterns for birds, fish spawning or animal migration, or the human community's peace-of-mind.

Coal Seam Fires. When developers dewater coal seams, ambient air is drawn into the coal bed, which supplies the oxygen necessary for spontaneous combustion. This can cause an underground fire in the coal seam. Coal seam fires are nearly impossible to extinguish. They produce high concentrations of sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide, both toxic to plants, and cause vegetation kills where the fire vents on the surface. In Colorado, five separate coal seam fires have been discovered on the Southern Ute Reservation where extensive coal bed methane drilling has occurred.

Regulatory Framework. No State or federal laws set direct standards for CBM development. In Montana, coal bed methane is regulated piecemeal and falls under a complex maze of jurisdictions. This split jurisdiction results in a complex permitting process, making it extremely difficult to hold companies accountable for the impacts of development. Because of a legal loophole, methane companies are exempt from the State water law permit system because the water they pump out of coal bed aquifers is technically considered a waste product, allowing them to squander billions of gallons of water per day!

What's Happening? Methane development in Montana began in the fall of 1999 when the Montana Board of Oil and Gas Conservation began issuing permits to Redstone Gas Partners, a subsidiary of Montana-Dakota Utilities. Because the Board began issuing permits without conducting an environmental review, the Northern Plains Resource Council filed a legal challenge in State district court, charging that the Board was putting southeastern Montana's farms, ranches, wildlife, and fisheries at risk. Two weeks later, NPRC filed an injunction seeking to prohibit the Board from issuing new permits for methane wells. In June 2000, NPRC and the Board negotiated a settlement establishing a moratorium on new coal bed methane permits until the State conducts a comprehensive statewide environmental impact statement (EIS).

The Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), the Montana Board of Oil and Gas Conservation (BOGC), and the federal BLM are preparing a joint EIS. The EIS process began in January 2001 with several public scoping meetings across the state. Hundreds of people attended hearings and submitted written comments during the scoping process. In each of the five public hearings, most testifiers expressed concern about the potential impacts of methane development. The EIS is slated to be completed by July 2002, but the unprecedented level of proposed development, combined with low funding for State and federal agencies could push the date back further.

For more information, contact the Northern Plains Resource Council.  Visit their website at www.northernplains.org