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BP : 1910952008
Vast deposits of coal, oil, and gas lie under the sage scrub and arid steppe of North America’s
intermountain West. Geologists estimate that at least 346 trillion ft3 of “technically recoverable“
natural gas and 62 billion barrels of petroleum liquids occur in five intermountain basins stretching
from Montana to New Mexico. These deposits would provide a 15 year supply of gas at present
usage rates, and at least four times as much oil as the most optimistic estimates for the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge. About half of that gas and oil is in or around relatively shallow coal
seams, which makes it vastly cheaper to extract than most other gas supplies. Drilling a typical
offshore gas well costs tens of millions of dollars, while a deep conventional gas well costs several
million dollars, but a coal-bed methane well is generally less than $100.000. The total value of the
methane and petroleum liquids from the Rocky Mountains could be as much as $200 billion over
the next decade.
Most coal-bed methane is held in place by pressure from overlying aquifers. Pumping the
water out these aquifers releases the gas, but creates phenomenal quantities of effluent that often
is contaminated with salt and other minerals. A typical coal-bed well produces 75.000 liters of
water per day. Dumping it on the surface can poison fields and pastures, erode stream banks,
contaminate rivers, and harm fish and wildlife. Drawing down aquifers depletes the wells on which
many ranches depend, and also dries up natural springs and wetlands essential for wildlife.
Ranchers complain that livestock and wildlife are killed by traffic and poisoned by discarded toxic
waste around well sites. “It may be a clean fuel”, says one rancher. “but it’s a dirty business”.
Another objection to coal-bed methane extraction is simply the enormous scope of the
enterprise. In Wyoming’s Powder River Basin, energy companies have already installed 12.000
wells and have proposed 39.000 more. Eventually, this area could contain as many as 140.000
wells, together with the sprawling network of roads, pipelines, compressor stations, and waste
water pits necessary for such a gargantuan undertaking. The Green River Basin and the San Juan
Basin, with three to five times as much potential gas and oil as Powder River, have even greater
probability for environmental damage.
An unlikely coalition of ranchers, hunters, anglers, conservationists, water users, and
renewable energy activist have banded together to fight against coal-bed gas extraction, calling on
Congress to protect private property rights, preserve water quality, and conserve sensitive public
lands.
An example of the wildlife conflicts occurring in the gas fields can be seen in the Upper
Green River Basin (see figure). Every year, 50.000 pronghorn antelope and 10.000 elk migrate
through a narrow corridor on their way between summer and winter ranges. The gas fields lie
across this migration route, and biologists worry that the noise, traffic, polluted waste water pts,
and activity around the wells may interrupt the migration and doom the animals. Much of this land
is also habitat for the greater sage-grouse. The bush administration rejected endangered species
protection for these birds even though populations have declined by 90 percent in recent decades,
because doing so might interfere with gas and oil drilling.
What do you think? Does having access to cleaner fuels justify the social and
environmental costs of their extraction? If you had a vote inthis issue, what restrictions would you
impose on the companies carrying out these projects? Could renewable energy sources, such as
windor solar, substitute for coal-bed methane (chapter 20)?