LAME DEER, Mont. – Limited coalbed methane (CBM) development will be allowed in southeast Montana’s Powder River Basin section bordering the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, according to a Sept. 11, 2 – 1 decision by a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a case stemming from 2005.
The Northern Cheyenne Tribe had been against the encroaching development CBM mines surrounding the borders of their land, citing environmental and cultural concerns. U.S. Judge Magistrate Richard Anderson said the Environmental Impact Statement had not analyzed the impact of coalbed methane mines sufficiently in 2005, and ordered the Bureau of Land Management to prepare a coalbed methane environmental impact statement in April 2005.
Anderson, however, said he’d permit the BLM to allow up to 500 wells while the new coalbed methane EIS was being prepared. Those wells were not allowed to be drilled pending the outcome of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe’s June 2005 emergency appeal.
The coalbed methane EIS is expected to be completed by this winter, according to BLM spokesman Greg Albright.
Chief Judge Mary Schroeder felt the decision for CBM to be drilled negated the National Environmental Policy Act.
”Allowing this activity to take place before completion of the [EIS] is contrary to the core purpose of the NEPA, which is to ensure consideration of all alternatives before major government action is taken,” Schroeder wrote.
The Northern Cheyenne felt that perhaps due to heavy pressure to domestically develop natural resources, judgment was rushed for approval when the BLM hastily approved the drilling of areas next to the reservation without considering the cultural and environmental implications that could arise.
They also feel there was no look into alternative energy resources that wouldn’t include CBM, such as perhaps wind, solar energy and biofuels.
Northern Cheyenne Tribal President Eugene Little Coyote said, ”The tribe remains steadfast in its opinion that the National Environmental Policy Act process should be completed before any major federal action is taken. The tribe is confident that its position, as endorsed by the chief judge for the 9th Circuit in her dissenting opinion, will ultimately be upheld.”
As the coalbed methane mines throughout north-central Wyoming’s Powder River Valley brought in natural gas energy for the United States and great profits to the state, CBM companies looked further north towards the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in southeastern Montana for rights to drill that could include incentives for the tribe.
”The tribal council has a tough job in balancing these needs with BIA and IHS budget cuts and the tribe’s long-standing tradition of protecting the environment and their sacred homeland,” noted tribal member Dion Killsback, an associate of Holland & Knight LLP who serves on the Northern Cheyenne Tribe’s general counsel.
”That is why the tribal council, in collaboration with the tribe’s natural resource, environmental, cultural, legal and economic departments are currently developing a comprehensive energy development policy to address all these concerns,” Killsback said.
After a 2006 letter of intent from the Great Bear Corp. of Oklahoma proposed coalbed methane and regular coal mining, and was approved, it was then brought to the Northern Cheyenne tribal membership last November. They voted 941 – 365 against the development of coalbed methane, but approved an initiative that would develop coal reserves.
Although the coal mining initiative was approved, Little Coyote stated in a press release that they would have a ”develop comprehensive development policy” in regards to its own mineral resources, and no official action has even taken place for that yet.
CBM mining is done by bringing underground reservoir water to the surface in order to depressurize it. Then methane is able to escape from the coal bed on which the water sits and settle in the underground air.
The extraction of underground water is a major issue for the tribe since it may affect their own underground springs that also supply local lakes with water, as is the disposing of salinated water into the Tongue River. According to a recent Montana State University study, there are three wells to extract water per 80 acres, and each well pulls out an average of 17,280 gallons of water per day.
The court’s current decision left it unclear to all parties whether drilling would ensue, pending another possible appeal.
