Study on impacts well-kept secret

By WALT WILLIAMS, Chronicle Staff Writer

HELENA - A study for the Montana Legislature has found that very little is known about the environmental impacts of coalbed methane development, but apparently few lawmakers have heard the study's conclusions.

In a paper released Feb. 4, two University of Montana researchers concluded there simply isn't enough independent research evaluating the environmental costs, "especially with land-use change and water quality."

More peer-reviewed research needs to be done to understand the problems and find solutions, they write. And it's the developers who should pay the cost of clean-up.

Lawmakers requested the study in 2001. It was supposed to be ready for the Legislature by the current session.

But while they've tackled the coalbed methane issue many times, most lawmakers simply don't know the paper is out there, claims the Northern Plains Resource Council, a conservation group.

"The problem is it was a little bit too late," said farmer Roger Muggli, a member of the council's coalbed methane task force. "I wish it was earlier. It would have had a little more effect on our legislators."

Environmentalists see drilling for methane gas trapped in coal deposits as a disaster in the making. Their primary concern is the salty water discharged while drilling. If that water is released in nearby streams, it could kill fish and other aquatic life.

Many land owners also see coalbed methane development as a threat, since most people don't own the rights to the minerals under their land yet their properties could suddenly sprout with wells.

Sen. Emily Stonington, D-Bozeman, introduced three bills this session that would have given property owners more say in development on their land. All died in committee.

Stonington didn't know about the study until recently.

"It's possible it could have changed some opinions on the committee," she said Thursday.

Stonington also didn't know why more lawmakers hadn't learned about it earlier, but she intends to distribute copies to all legislators along with a cover letter.

There really was no intention of hiding anything from anybody, said freshwater ecologist F. Richard Hauer, who co-authored the paper with Jack Stanford.

"We had no specific expectations" about how lawmakers would use the study, he said. "It's really not a research paper. It's an opinion paper."

Senate President Bob Keenan, R-Bigfork, requested the study when the Legislature was appropriating money for the Flathead Lake Biological Station in Polson in 2001. The station is a research facility run by UM.

But the Legislature made no formal request, so once the study was completed, a copy was given to Keenan, Hauer said.

Keenan did not return requests for comment Thursday.

The paper can be downloaded from the Internet at www.umt.edu/biology/flbs/Research/CBM.htm.

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