energy development

Energy Officials Say Montana is Slow on Permits for Drilling Projects

By Dana Green, 3-29-06

Energy officials told Gov. Schweitzer that Montana's lengthy regulation process might be holding up new projects, the AP's Becky Bohrer reports today.

The governor asked energy representatives in a sit-down meeting to discuss energy development in Montana, particularly coal-bed methane production. Their take: the permit process was slow compared to other states.

A permit that would take up to two years in Montana would take only three to six months in Wyoming, noted one energy official. Wyoming and Montana are already embroiled in a dispute over the environmental effects of coalbed methane drilling. A coalition of Montana ranchers, landowners and environmentalists filed a petition with the State Board of Environmental Review, claiming Wyoming's methane extraction companies were contaminating irrigation streams and draining groundwater.

The Board rejected the petitioners' request to force the energy companies to reinject the wastewater back into the ground, but board members plan to issue new standards for water treatment in September.

No one likes slow bureaucracies, but it appears Wyoming and Montana may not see exactly eye-to-eye on what constitutes regulation on large-scale energy projects.

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