Coal-Bed Battles

It’s Been a Busy Week for the Methane Water Discussion

By Tad Sooter, 2-04-06

Though a decision by the Montana Board of Environmental Review is still well over a month away, a debate flared up this week over a petition suggesting tight regulations on coal-based methane wastewater.

The petition, submitted by the Northern Plains Resource Council, along with a coalition of Montana ranchers and landowner groups, is aimed at requiring wastewater created in the methane extraction process to be re-injected into the coal beds, or at least be treated to remove salts and other contaminants. The proposed rule changes have incited heated response from Montana and Wyoming politicians alike.

On Tuesday, Wyoming’s congressional delegation voiced their angst with the proposal in a letter urging the Board of Environmental Review to deny the petition. The letter said in part that the petition was not based in proven science and could even be an unconstitutional regulation of interstate commerce by a state government. Wyoming’s representatives also expressed concern that the regulations would raise gas prices to compensate for price of treatment and re-injection.

Later on Tuesday, supporters of the petition in Montana responded with a letter of their own. The document, signed by 59 Montana state legislators, supported the new regulations and said that Montana would not be bullied by Wyoming while setting standards for the quality of water in its rivers and streams.

Though the new rules would only change Montana law, they could have implications for Wyoming methane wells that discharge wastewater into rivers that many Montana farmers rely on for irrigation. The wastewater, created when methane wells tap into aquifers trapped by the coal, is fine for watering livestock and humans, but because of its salt content is not suitable for watering crops.

“If these guys were dumping truckloads of salt in the river, we’d be throwing a hissy-fit. But because it’s all mixed up with water, a lot of people say ‘Oh, it’s just water, that’s O.K.,'� Northern Plains chair Mark Fix said from his ranch, Thursday.

Fix’s ranch is 20 miles southwest of Miles City, Montana, on the Tongue River, and very near the center of the wastewater debate. Large-scale methane extraction has been active in the Tongue and Powder River region since 1999. In 2004 the industry produced 673 million gallons of wastewater just on the Montana side of the border.

The regulations would address the two most voiced complaints on methane wastewater: the contamination of waterways used for agriculture and the loss of much-needed groundwater. Methane companies would be required to re-inject their wastewater back into coal seams or exhausted methane wells. In places where the terrain is not suitable for re-injection, or there is a possibility of water recycling into active wells, the wastewater would have to be treated before being dumped into rivers. Re-injection costs roughly twice as much as treatment but has the advantage of preserving the natural water supply.

According to a Montana Department of Environmental Quality study, released in December of 2005, the gas industry would stand to lose around $1.2 billion in profit and up to 129 jobs over the next 30 years if the new rules are implemented. Those losses would be somewhat offset by the water treatment process which could provide 65 jobs and $45 million in personal income over the same time period.

It’s harder to quantify what is at stake for ranchers in the region and how much damage has already been done by untreated water. Drought, weevils, early frosts and a myriad of other natural factors can impact the health of crops, so singling out just one source, such as salinity, is nearly impossible. What’s easier to fathom is that groundwater needed for future farming and ranching is being displaced at a staggering rate.

Fix did his own investigation to put the wastewater issue into perspective in terms of ranching. He requested a report from the Montana Board of Oil and Gas detailing their wastewater production. According to Fix, the CX methane field in Big Horn County alone had produced 900 million barrels of wastewater since 1999, by his calculations, enough to raise 680,000 head of cattle.

“When you’re a rancher you think, ‘680,000 cattle, wow, that’s a lot of water that’s being taken out and wasted,'� Fix said.

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