Coal Bed Methane Discharge Standards Survive a Challenge

(November 2007)
In 2003, the Montana Board of Environmental Review adopted standards for salinity and sodium adsorption ratio for water discharged from coal bed methane wells.  Salinity and SAR are the two most problematic qualities of CBM-produced water.  They are harmful to crops and soils.  While supporters of the standards hoped for more stringent standards, the BER, after rigorous review, believed the standards were protective of the environment.  The CBM industry disagreed and thought the Board went too far.

In June 2006, a group of energy development companies sued the Board seeking to have the new standards revoked.  They said the standards were overly restrictive and not based on scientific evidence.

In October, District Court Judge Blair Jones ruled against the energy companies and dismissed their lawsuit.  Jones wrote that the Board, “adequately considered all of the relevant information or evidence necessary for an informed decision.”  He added: “The record is exhaustive and contains more than sufficient scientific justification for the numeric standards that were adopted.”

The companies (Penaco Energy, Inc., Marathon Oil Co., Nance Petroleum Corp., Yates Petroleum Corp., and Fidelity Exploration and Production Co.) are considering their options for what to do next.

That wasn’t the only lawsuit the companies filed challenging the Board’s standards, however.  They also sued the U.S.  Environmental Protection Agency in federal court for approving the new standards.

While Montana is taking a cautious approach to CBM development, Wyoming has moved rapidly ahead.  Currently there are more than 20,000 producing CBM wells in Wyoming.  Many of those wells are discharging polluted water into rivers and streams flowing into Montana (the Tongue, Powder and Little Powder Rivers, and Hanging Woman and Badger Creeks).

The companies sued EPA because Montana’s new CBM discharge standards could limit their ability to discharge polluted water into Wyoming streams that flow into Montana.  Wyoming joined the suit on the side of the companies.

Officials from Montana and Wyoming have been negotiating, and have reached a proposed settlement for the suit.  The proposal calls for stricter standards on the Tongue River, puts the old, less restrictive standards back in place on the Powder River, and removes most discharge limitations for Hanging Woman and Badger Creeks.  The proposed settlement follows the notion that discharges to rivers such as the Powder, which contain naturally high levels of salinity, should be allowed as they won’t degrade the river’s water quality.  Rivers like the Tongue, however, which are naturally much cleaner, would be protected by stricter standards.

MEIC does not agree with that notion and does not support the proposed settlement.  Pollution is pollution regardless of the quality of the receiving water.  Lifting restrictions on Hanging Woman and Badger Creeks, both tributaries of the Tongue River, is tantamount to allowing increased discharges to the Tongue.  As Art Hayes Jr., head of the Tongue River Water Users Association put it: “There’s no room in our streams for CBM water.”