Author(s): Anonymous
Source: Onearth
Date of Publication: January 01, 2005

As fossil fuel prices climb, sources of energy that had little value a decade ago are now hot commodities. Such is the case with coal bed methane-a gas that is naturally produced and trapped in coal seams. When the Bureau of Land Management awarded Pennaco Energy three exploration leases in Wyoming's Powder River basin in 2000, it studied the environmental impacts of traditional oil and gas development, but not of coal bed methane extraction-a different process with very different effects on the environment. To get the gas, groundwater has to be pumped out, and often that water is dumped into nearby streams or allowed to spill right onto the ground. It tends to be extremely saline, which means it kills crops, makes soil too salty to farm, and sometimes contaminates drinking water supplies. More than three years ago, NRDC and its local allies challenged the environmental review for Pennaco's three leases. In August, a federal appeals court agreed that the bureau had performed an inadequate review. The Department of the Interior has cancelled future lease sales for coal bed methane in the Powder River basin, but 39,000 new wells had already been approved before the August ruling. NRDC has requested meetings with federal officials to respond to the problem.

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