CHEYENNE — A Colorado company expects to get regulatory approval soon so it can begin to exploit bacteria to revive hundreds of tapped-out gas wells in northeastern Wyoming.
The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality is considering granting a permit to Luca Technologies Inc. that would allow the company to put substances underground to encourage the growth of bacteria. The Bureau of Land Management also is reviewing the plans.
The bacteria are naturally present in water-saturated coal seams. They eat the coal and produce methane gas as a byproduct. Officials with Golden- based Luca expect their process to produce a slow but steady stream of gas from existing coal-bed methane wells.
Luca has begun reviving production at about 100 coal-bed methane wells west of Gillette. It hasn’t put microbe- stimulating substances into those wells yet. The Associated Press
