DENVER—More than a year after the deadline, federal officials are starting work on a study exploring some of the effects of the Rockies’ energy boom on water.
A panel of the National Academy of Sciences met Tuesday in Denver with state and federal regulators to review what’s known about the effects of coal-bed methane drilling on surface and groundwater and determine what needs to be studied further.
The 2005 federal energy bill said the study should be completed within a year. Three environmental groups sued the Interior Department in February to force some action.
“The (Environmental Protection Agency) has looked at the issue somewhat several years ago, but their analysis was very incomplete,” said Robert Ukeiley of WildEarth Guardians, one of the groups that sued.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which oversees mineral development on federal lands, asked the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences to review information about coal-bed methane’s effects on water and determine the need and scope for further analysis.
Bruce Baizel of the Oil and Gas Accountability Project, a Colorado-based conservation group, called the BLM’s direction “sort of a holding action” instead of the full-blown study he and others want.
But BLM spokesman Tom Gorey said the meeting in Denver, set to wrap up Wednesday, was the first step in laying the groundwork for the study.
“By fall, we expect to have the parameters of what needs to be looked into,” Gorey said.
The study would focus on coal-bed methane production in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and North Dakota. The report is supposed to analyze what companies are doing to minimize the impacts on water and recommend any changes.
Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent a letter last October to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, urging him to comply with the law and commission the National Academy of Sciences to write an analysis.
Dan Larson of BP America Inc., a longtime producer in Colorado and New Mexico, questioned the need for the study.
“I believe a lot is known that’s being overlooked,” Larson said.
Coal-bed methane accounted for 9.4 percent of the natural gas produced nationwide in 2006 and the percentage is growing, said Mary Smith of the Environmental Protection Agency. She was one of 12 speakers providing input to the panel.
The Powder River Basin in northeastern Wyoming and the San Juan Basin in southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico are two of the country’s major coal-bed methane producing areas.
The methane is tapped by pumping out groundwater that traps the natural gas in coal seams. State and federal officials said the amount of water pumped and its quality vary considerably across the region.
Most of the water released to free methane gas in the San Juan Basin is re-injected into the ground. Much of the water in northeastern Wyoming is released into streams, raising concerns about high sodium levels that can damage vegetation and soil.
Jon Jaffe of Anadarko Petroleum, a major coal-bed methane producer in Wyoming, said his company treats much of the water it pumps out before discharging it.
Montana state officials and landowners, though, worry that Wyoming’s coal-bed methane development is harming water quality and depleting streams and groundwater. The state of Wyoming and the energy industry are suing to overturn Montana’s water-quality standards aimed at preventing pollution from Wyoming’s natural gas production.
Richard Goodwin, who lives near Walsenburg in southern Colorado, said he and other homeowners who live in gas fields are concerned that development will lower groundwater levels and affect their water wells. He said some of water wells in his rural subdivision have dried up since production has picked up.
