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Page 1 of 1 <br />Miller, Steve <br />From: Loretta Lohman [lorettalohman @comcast.net] <br />Sent: Thursday, August 12, 2004 9:38 AM <br />To: Reagan Waskom; Beth Mitchell; Miller, Steve; Laurie Fisher <br />Subject: Coal bed from ENS <br />Outdated Analysis of Coalbed Methane Impacts Ruled Illegal <br />DENVER, Colorado, August 12, 2004 (ENS) - The federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) sold three coalbed <br />methane leases in the Powder River Basin of northeast Wyoming illegally, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on <br />Tuesday. The ruling reversed a federal district court ruling that the leases were legal. <br />Earthjustice, representing four conservation groups, argued that the BLM violated the National Environmental Policy <br />Act by relying on an outdated plan, drafted in 1985, that did not consider the environmental impacts of coalbed methane <br />development before it sold the leases at issue. <br />Judge Mary Beck Briscoe, writing for a unanimous appellate panel, ruled that there was sufficient evidence for the <br />Department of Interior to find that the BLM's environmental review was inadequate because it failed to address <br />"significant new environmental concerns" associated with coalbed methane production. <br />Coalbed methane is extracted by a process that requires pumping water from coal -seam aquifers to the surface. Ranchers <br />and others who depend on these aquifers can be left without water, and in addition the salty and mineral -rich water can <br />kill crops, other plants, and fish when it is pumped to the surface. <br />The court ruled that the BLM approved the three coalbed methane leases at issue without considering these effects. <br />The Department of Interior's Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) agreed with conservationists that these impacts were <br />significantly different from conventional oil and gas development and told BLM to go back and do the necessary <br />environmental analysis. <br />The gas company that bought the development rights then successfully sued in a Wyoming federal district court to <br />reverse the IBLA. <br />At that point, the federal government abandoned its defense of the Interior Department's ruling, leaving Earthjustice to <br />defend the decision in the court of appeals. <br />"This decision strikes a balance between our need for energy and our commitment to get it in environmentally <br />responsible ways," said Earthjustice attorney Susan Daggett. <br />"As usual, this was a case of gas companies and the federal government being in a hurry to get at the energy in ways that <br />threatened the environment," she said. "Truth is, if they take a bit more time they can consider ways to do things right <br />and leave us all with a cleaner and healthier environment." <br />Daggett says the decision has "sweeping implications for the way BLM permits oil and gas development on the public <br />lands in the intermountain West." <br />The Tenth Circuit's ruling will help Earthjustice and others to ensure that the BLM looks before it leaps ahead with <br />leasing for coalbed methane by taking the time to do thorough, up -front analyses of the environmental consequences to <br />the people and wildlife of the region. <br />The Powder River Basin has emerged as one of the most active new areas of coalbed methane production. On April 30, <br />2003, the Bureau of Land Management approved drilling 82,000 new oil and gas wells in the Powder River Basin which <br />reaches across 12 million acres of land in Wyoming and Montana. Of the new wells, 66,000 will be coal bed methane. <br />8/12/2004 <br />