Huber wants money if it can't drill for coalbed methane

By SCOTT McMILLION, Chronicle Staff Writer

If the J.M. Huber Corp. can't have the gas, it wants the cash.

Huber has now sued Gallatin County for a third time, claiming that local officials have illegally blocked its plans to drill for coalbed methane gas in the Bozeman Pass area.

The suit is similar to one filed nearly two years ago, but with one large difference: the new suit asks for money if it can't drill.

"The important thing is this new case now has a money damages claim," noted Gallatin County Attorney Marty Lambert on Wednesday.

He said he will be alerting the county's insurance carriers of the new development.

A previous suit in state court seeks only to overturn the county's denial of a drilling permit. Another suit, filed in federal court, is on hold until the state court suit is settled, Lambert said.

Huber, a privately held multinational company based in New Jersey, has leased the mineral rights under about 18,000 acres in Gallatin and Park counties. Company officials have said coal seams there could hold gas potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

However, most residents of the scenic area oppose drilling, arguing that they will bear the brunt of the messy impacts while Huber and the owners of the subsurface mineral rights get all the benefits.

In 2001, state officials gave the company permission to drill an exploratory well in Section 11, just north of Interstate 90 in the Jackson Creek area.

However, that property is within the Bridger Canyon Zoning District, so the well needs a special-use permit from the county.

The district's commission, consisting of the three county commissioners, the county treasurer and clerk and recorder, offered the permit only with a long list of conditions meant to protect the property rights of neighbors.

Those conditions ranged from training local fire departments in gasfield firefighting to water-quality monitoring, from regulating drilling hours to requiring high bonds.

Huber balked when the conditions were imposed and now maintains they "were arbitrary and capricious" and constitute a "taking" of the company's mineral rights, according to the new suit, filed in Gallatin County District Court by Billings attorney Kristin Omvig.

Omvig did not return phone calls this week seeking further comment.

Lambert said he will approach the Greater Yellowstone Coalition and the Bridger Canyon Property Owners Association to see if they want to join the new suit on the side of the county.

Both groups have been actively fighting CBM development.

Meanwhile, work progresses to create a permanent new zoning district in the area proposed for drilling.

Huber has permission from state regulators to drill another well outside the Bridger Canyon zoning district, in a spot east of the community of Chestnut.

The County Commission created a temporary zoning district there and installed a moratorium on oil and gas development. However, that moratorium expires Aug. 8.

Gallatin County Planner Jennifer Madgic said Wednesday residents have been working hard to complete all the steps necessary to create a permanent zoning district there.

"I've been impressed with what they've accomplished and how well they've gotten along," she said, adding that she expects the citizens' group to take their proposal to the county commission in June.

Scott McMillion is at scottm@dailychronicle.com

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