Coal Bed Methane

Review Board Takes Middle Road on Methane Wastewater

By Tad Sooter, 3-23-06

The Montana Board of Environmental Review rejected proposed rules Thursday that would have forced coal-based methane companies to re-inject wastewater into the ground, but decided that to set standards for allowable contamination levels, the AP reports. The board will wait until September to decide whether to require wastewater treatment. The board made its ruling Thursday afternoon on a petition submitted by a coalition of ranchers, landowners and environmentalists who say methane wells are contaminating irrigation streams and draining groundwater that will be needed in the future.

The petition is aimed at methane extraction companies dotted across Powder River Basin, near the Wyoming border. Methane wells pump water out of coal seams to reduce ground pressure and allow the gas to escape to the surface. Wastewater is created at a staggering 48,000 gallons a minute and is either treated, stored in reservoirs or dumped into nearby streams. Montana methane wells sucked out 673 million gallons of water 2004. The untreated water is too sodium rich for irrigation but OK for watering animals and humans.

Wastewaer re-injection would have been an expensive requirement for gas companies but had the advantage of replacing groundwater for future farming. The difference may be slight since the Montana Department of Environmental Quality estimated that only 20 percent of wastewater would have been re-injected had the rule been accepted. The Board wants to look at a number of wastewater treatment options before deciding whether to require it. Standard treatment methods cost roughly half as much as re-injection and make the water safe for irrigation.

The Board’s decision to throw out of the re-injection proposal may have been influenced by a state commisioned study by the Montana Bureau of Mines and Technology in Butte, which found only a small amount of the Powder River Basin’s sandstone deposits suitable for injection.

The proposal angered Wyoming lawmakers who felt the rules would effectively regulate methane operations in Wyoming who dischard wastewater into streams that flow into Montana. They went so as calling the rules an unconstitutional state restriction of interstate commerce. The plan had wide support from Montana state legislators.

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