Political mobilization, venue change, and the coal bed methane conflict in Montana and Wyoming

Natural Resources Journal

Volumn 45, Issue 2, 2005, Pages 409-440

  Duffy, Robert J ^a  

^a Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ENERGY; GOVERNANCE APPROACH; METHANE; POLITICAL CHANGE; POLITICAL CONFLICT;

NORTH AMERICA; UNITED STATES; WYOMING;

EID: 28144438819     PISSN: 00280739     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (166)

1. Blaine Harden & Douglas Jehl, Ranchers Bristle as Gas Wells Loom on the Range, N.Y. Times, Dec. 29, 2002, at A1.
2. See generally Frank R. Baumgartner & Bryan D. Jones, Agenda and Instability in American Politics (1993).
3. Political scientists Frank Baumgartner and Bryan Jones' influential Agendas and Instability in American Politics has fundamentally altered the discipline's approach to policy change. See generally id.
4. Perhaps the two classic studies of political mobilization are Anthony Downs, Up and Down with Ecology: "The Issue Attention Cycle," Pub. Int., Summer 1972, at 38,
5. and E.E. Schattschneider, The SemiSovereign People: A Realist's View of Democracy in America (1960).
6. Baumgartner & Jones, supra note 2, at 84.
7. See id. at 192.
8. See id. at 178.
9. See id. ch. 5.
10. See id. at. 89.
11. See id. at 202.
12. Id. at 89.
13. Schattschneider, supra note 4, at 2.
14. Id. at 16.
15. Thomas F. Darin & Amy W. Beatie, Debunking the Natural Gas "Clean Energy" Myth: Coalbed Methane in Wyoming's Powder River Basin, 31 Envtl. L. Rep. 10,569 (2001);
16. see also Judy Pasternak, Coal-Bed Methane Puts Basic Needs of Water, Energy at Odds, L.A. Times, Mar. 27, 2001, at A1;
17. Mont. Dep't of Envtl. Quality, Coal Bed Methane Production in Montana (2001), available at http://www.deq.state.mt.us/CoalBedMethane/doc/ Issuepaper1-01.htm (last visited May 16, 2005).
18. Energy Info. Admin., Executive Summary, in U.S. Natural Gas Markets: Midterm Prospects of Natural Gas Supply (2001), available at http:// www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/servicerpt/natgas/ (last visited June 11, 2005).
19. "Technically recoverable" is not the same as "economically recoverable"; indeed, many critics argue that much of the coal bed methane identified by the environmental impact assessment would be too expensive to bring to market. Pete Morton, Chris Weller & Janice Thomson, Wilderness Society, Energy and Western Wildlands: A GIS Analysis of Economically Recoverable Oil and Gas 1 (2002), available at http://www.wilderness.org/Library/Documents/upload/ Western-Wildlands-GIS-Analysis-Introduction.pdf (last visited Sept. 7, 2005).
20. Harden & Jehl, supra note 1;
21. Dan Piller, Coal Bed Methane Emerges as Natural Gas Source, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, June 30, 2003, at 1, available at http:// www.gasandoil.com/goc/company/cnn33266.htm (last visited May 16, 2005).
22. Hal Clifford, Wyoming's Powder Keg: Coalbed Methane Splinters the Powder River Basin, High Country News, Nov. 5, 2001, available at http:// www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=10823.
23. Gary C. Bryner, Univ. of Colo. Sch. of Law, Coalbed Methane Development in the Intermountain West: A Primer 6 (2002) (citing Vito Nuccio, Geological Overview of Coalbed Methane, in U.S. Dep't of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey Open File Report 01-235,
24. Coalbed Methane Field Conference (2001)), available at http:// www.colorado.edu/Law/centers/nrlc/publications/CBM_Primer.pdf (last visited June 13, 2005).
25. Bryner, supra note 18, at 9.
26. Powder River Basin Resource Council, Protecting Your Property, in Coalbed Methane Monitor, available at http://www.powderriverbasin.org/ cbm_monitor_page1.shtml#protecting (last visited June 13, 2005).
27. U.S. Dep't of the Interior, MMS Updates Estimates for Oil and Gas Resources on the OCS, in Minerals Management Service News Releases, Jan. 17, 2001, available at http://www.gomr.mms.gov/homepg/whatsnew/newsreal/ 010117.html;
28. see also John Dragonetti, Coalbed Methane Is Becoming a Hot Topic, Prof. Geologist, Nov. 2001, at 16, available at http://64.207.34.58/ StaticContent/3/TPGs/2001_TPGNov.pdf (last visited June 13, 2005).
29. See generally Emil D. Attansi, U.S. Geological Survey Open File Report 95-75-M, Economics and the 1995 National Assessment of U.S. Oil and Gas Resources (1998), available at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1995/of95-075m/ econ_oil&gas.htm#METHODOLOGY (last visited June 13, 2005).
30. N. Plains Resource Council, Your Land, Your Rights 1 (2003).
31. Ray Ring, Backlash: Local Governments Tackle an In-Your-Face Rush to Coalbed Methane, High Country News, Sept. 2, 2002, at 8, available at http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=11371.
32. Gail Binkly, The BLM Stabs at Tired Land, High Country News, Sept. 16, 2002, at 3;
33. Energy, Minerals, & Natural Resources Dep't, New Mexico's Natural Resources 2003, at 4, 7 (2003).
34. Id. at 7.
35. See discussion supra in section titled "The What, Where, When, and Why of Coalbed Methane," notes 14-25 and accompanying text.
36. See Darin & Beatie, supra note 14, at 10,567.
37. Harden & Jehl, supra note 1.
38. Electa Draper & Theo Stein, Fed-up Ranchers Lock Out Drillers, Denver Post, Nov. 26, 2002, at A1.
39. Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, Coalition of Western Citizens Release Energy Agenda, In the News, Mar. 11, 2003, available at http:// biodiversityassociates.org/blm/news/n11mar03.html (last visited June 14, 2005).
40. Id.
41. Bryner, supra note 18, at 30.
42. Id.
43. Jack A. Stanford & F. Richard Hunter, Univ. of Mont., Coalbed Methane in Montana: Problems and Solutions 3 (2003), available at http:// www2.umt.edu/biology/flbs/Research/CBMFinal2-5-03.pdf (last visited June 20, 2005).
44. N. Plains Resource Council, supra note 22, at 1.
45. Id. at 3.
46. Mont. Code Ann. § 75-1-201 (2003).
47. See, e.g., Mont. Bd. of Oil & Gas Conservation, About MBOGC, at http://bogc.dnrc.state.mt.us/BoardSummaries.htm (last visited Aug. 3, 2005);
48. Mont. Dep't of Envtl. Quality, Coalbed Methane, at http:// www.deq.state.mt.us/CoalBedMethane/index.asp (last visited Aug. 3, 2005);
49. Mont. Dept of Nat. Resources & Conservation, Water Resources Divisions Goals and Objectives, at http://www.dnrc.state.mt.us/ strategic_plan.htm#Water%20goals (last visited Aug. 3, 2005).
50. Mont. Dept of Envtl. Quality. supra note 14.
51. Ring, supra note 23, at 10.
52. Mont. Code Ann. § 82-11-101 (2003);
53. Mont. Bd. of Oil & Gas Conservation, supra note 38.
54. Id.
55. Id.
56. Id.;
57. Bryner, supra note 18, at 27.
58. Mont. Envtl. Info. Ctr., Methane Meets Montana, at http://www.meic.org/ coalbedmethane.html (last updated Aug. 2005).
59. Id.
60. Id.
61. Associated Press, U.S. Board Kills Methane Lease Approvals, Billings Gazette, Apr. 30, 2002, available at http://www.billingsgazette.com/ index.php?display=rednews/2002/04/30/build/wyoming/cbmruling.inc.
62. See Mont. Envtl. Info. Ctr., supra note 45.
63. Id.
64. Press Release, N. Plains Resource Council, Coal Bed Methane Moratorium Enters Final Two Weeks, Irrigators Renew Calls for Irrigation Water Protections (Mar. 27, 2003), available at http://www.northernplains.org/ newsroom/default.asp.
65. Press Release, N. Plains Resource Council, Conservation Group Challenges Federal Methane Council (May 1, 2003), available at http:// www.northernplains.org/newsroom/default.asp.
66. Id.
67. Press Release, supra note 51.
68. Clair Johnson, Coalbed Methane: The Lawsuits, Billings Gazette, Jan. 6, 2004, available at http://www.billingsgazette.com/ index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2004/01/06/build/state/ 25-cbmlawsuits.inc.
69. Id.
70. Id.;
71. see also Mont. Const. art. IX, § 3.
72. Johnson, supra note 55;
73. Mont. Envtl. Info. Ctr., Coal Bed Methane Update, at http://www.meic.org/ coalbed1.html (last visited June 14, 2005).
74. Johnson, supra note 55.
75. See Mont. Const. art. II, § 3.
76. See id. art. IX, § 1.
77. Johnson, supra note 55.
78. Tongue & Yellowstone Irrigation Dist. v. Mont. Dep't of Envtl. Quality, Mont. Bd. of Oil & Gas Conservation & Mont. Dep't of Nat. Resources & Conservation, Coal Bed Methane Litigation 4 (Mar. 2, 2004), available at http://leg.state.mt.us/content/lepo/2003_2004/ environmental_quality_council/staffmemos/cbmlitigation.pdf.
79. See id.
80. See Mont. Const. art. IX, § 2.
81. See Mont. Envtl. Info. Ctr., supra note 58.
82. See discussion supra in section titled "The Struggle to Define Coal Bed Methane."
83. Bryner, supra note 18, at 30.
84. Id.
85. N. Plains Resource Council, Doing It Right: A Blueprint for Responsible Coal Bed Methane Development in Montana 3 (2001), available at http:// www.northernplains.org/newsroom/documents/Doing_It_Right.pdf (last visited June 14, 2005).
86. Id.
87. Mont. Code Ann. § 85-2-505 (2003).
88. Id. § 85-2-505(e).
89. Id. § 82-11-175.
90. Id. § 85-2-508.
91. Id. § 85-2-311.
92. Id. § 82-11-175(3)(a).
93. Mont. Dep't of Envtl. Quality, supra note 14;
94. see also Mont. Bd. of Oil & Gas Conservation, Final Coal Bed Methane Order for Powder River Basin Controlled Groundwater Area, Order No. 99-99 (1999), available at http://bogc.dnrc.state.mt.us/CbmOrder.htm (last visited May 17, 2005).
95. See discussion supra note 45 and accompanying text.
96. Ring, supra note 23, 9.
97. Id. at 10.
98. The federal suit is on hold pending the resolution of the state case. See Associated Press, Lawsuit Rejects CBM Conditions, Billings Gazette, Jan. 30, 2004, available at http://www.billingsgazette.com/ index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2004/01/30/build/state/ 80-cmblawsuit.inc.
99. Ring, supra note 23, at 10-11.
100. Press Release, N. Plains Resource Council, EPA Approves Montana's Methane Wastewater Standards (Sept. 4, 2003), available at http:// www.northernplains.org/media/2003/PR-CBM-EPAapproval-9-4-03-Web.pdf (last visited July 10, 2005);
101. Press Release, supra note 51.
102. The nondegradation policy prohibited operators from undertaking actions that impaired water quality in the state's rivers. Bryner, supra note 18, at 25.
103. Press Release, supra note 83.
104. Mark Henckel, Trouble on the Tongue, Billings Gazette, Nov. 28, 2002, available at http://www.billingsgazette.com/ index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2002/11/28/build/outdoors/ 02-henckel.inc.
105. Id.
106. A study commissioned by the state legislature also found that discharging CBM water into the state's rivers could have harmful environmental consequences. The report found that the projected discharges of 2.5 to 10 gallons per minute of CBM water "will change the chemistry of the rivers to the extent that use by native biota and by farms could be impaired." Stanford & Hunter, supra note 34, at 7.
107. Johnson, supra note 55.
108. N. Plains Res. Council v. Redstone Gas, No. 00-CV-105, 2002 WL 31054969 (D. Mont. Aug. 23, 2002),
109. rev'd, N. Plains Res. Council v. Fidelity Exploration & Dev. Co., 325 F.3d 1155 (9th Cir. 2003),
110. cert. denied, Fidelity Exploration & Prod. Co. v. N. Plains Res. Council, Inc., 540 U.S. 967 (2003).
111. Press Release, N. Plains Resource Council, U.S. Supreme Court Affirms Methane Wastewater Is Pollution (Oct. 20, 2003), available at http:// www.northernplains.org/newsroom/documents/ PR-CBM-CWAfinalvictory-10-20-03-lthd.pdf.
112. N. Plains Res. Council v. Fidelity Exploration & Dev. Co., 325 F.3d 1155 (9th Cir. 2003).
113. Id. at 1160, 1164-65.
114. See id. at 1165.
115. Id.
116. Becky Rohrer, CBM Water Case Stands, Lawyer Says, Billings Gazette, Oct. 21, 2003, available at http://www.billingsgazette.com/ index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2003/10/21/build/local/38-cbm.inc.;
117. see also Press Release, supra note 90.
118. Biodiversity Conservation Alliance et al., Western Energy Agenda 1, available at www.northernplains.org/media/2003/West_Energy_Agenda.pdf (last visited June 20, 2005).
119. Keith Kloor, Powder Keg, Audubon Mag., Dec. 2002, available at http:// magazine.Audubon.org/features0212/dispatch.html (last visited June 20, 2005).
120. Mont. Envtl. Info. Cent., supra note 45.
121. See Bryner, supra note 18, at 41-42.
122. N. Plains Resource Council, Voting Record: 2003 Montana Legislature 3 [hereinafter N. Plains Voting Record], available at http:// www.northernplains.org/pdf/2003_Voting_Record.pdf (last visited June 21, 2005);
123. see also Press Release, Northern Plains Resource Council, Legislative Study Shows Coal Bed Methane Problems (Mar. 18, 2003), available at http://www.northernplains.org/media/2003/ PR-LEG-StanfordStudy-318-03lthd.pdf.
124. See N. Plains Voting Record, supra note 100, at 4.
125. See id. at 5.
126. See id. at 11.
127. See id.
128. Clifford, supra note 17.
129. Bryner, supra note 18, at 10 (citing Don Likwarz, Remarks at the Natural Resources Law Center, University of Colorado School of Law, CBM Conference, Apr. 4-5, 2002).
130. Geringer Gets Petition Backing Methane Development, Casper Star Trib., Aug. 27, 2000, at B7.
131. Paul Krza, Wyoming at a Crossroads, High Country News, Feb. 17, 2003, at 16.
132. Katherine Collins, Open for Business: Wyoming Throws Away Its Water to Get Oil and Gas, High Country News, Sept. 25, 2000, at 12.
133. See Darin & Beatie, supra note 14, at 10,567.
134. See Krza, supra note 108, at 14.
135. See Clifford, supra note 17.
136. See Darin & Beatie, supra note 14, at 10,599.
137. Krza, supra note 108, at 14.
138. Freudenthal Drops CBM Cleanup, Billings Gazette, Nov. 22, 2003, available at http://www.billingsgazette.com/ index.php?id-1&display=rednews/2003/11/22/build/wyoming/ 40-nocbmfund.inc.
139. Gas Industry Rips Attempt at CBM Clean-Up Fund, Billings Gazette, Nov. 21, 2003, available at http://www.billingsgazette.com/ index.php?display=rednews/2003/11/21/build/wyoming/50-cbmcleanup.inc.
140. Envtl. Working Group, Who Owns the West? Oil and Gas Leases, at http:// www.ewg.org/oil_and_gas/part9.php (last visited Sept. 7, 2005).
141. See Darin & Beatie, supra note 14, at 10,599.
142. Mike Stark, Following Busy Year, Wyoming Tries to Cope with Coalbed Growing Pains, Billings Gazette, Jan. 7, 2004, available at http:// www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2004/01/07/ build/state/30-cbmgrowingpains.inc.
143. See id.
144. Report: Wyoming Needs to Enforce CBM Regulations, Billings Gazette, Oct. 14, 2003, available at http://www.billingsgazette.com/ index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2003/10/14/build/wyoming/50-cbm.inc.
145. See Darin & Beattie, supra note 14, at 10,595.
146. Press Release, Powder River Basin Resource Council, Conservation Groups Object to the Issuance of New CBM Discharge Permits Citing State's Failure to Enforce the Federal Clean Water Act (Oct. 31, 2000), available at http://www.powderriverbasin.org/press_releases/ discharge_protest.htm.
147. See Darin & Beattie, supra note 14, at 10,595.
148. See id. at 10,599.
149. See id. at 10,569.
150. Jeff Tollefson, Coalbed Methane: Producers Bemoan Regulations, Maintain Wyoming's Not Taking Advantage of Boom, Casper Star Trib., Oct. 5, 1999, at A1;
151. see also Darin & Beatie, supra note 14, at 10,569;
152. Envtl. Working Group, supra note 117.
153. Jeff Tollefson, Coalbed Methane: Rule Halves Well Density, Casper Star Trib., July 12, 2000, at A1.
154. Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 41-3-931 (Michie 2003).
155. See Darin & Beattie, supra note 14, at 10,599.
156. Kloor, supra note 97.
157. Lawmakers Ponder "Split-Estate" Plans, Billings Gazette, Nov. 5, 2003, available at http://www.billingsgazette.com/ index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2003/11/05/build/wyoming/ 48-estate.inc.
158. Mike Stark, Split Estate, Divided Views: Coalbed Methane Creates a Stir Above Ground and Below, Billings Gazette, Jan. 8, 2004, available at http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=18&display=rednews/2004/ 01/08/build/state/30-cbm.inc.
159. Environmental Council to Examine Split Estates, Billings Gazette, Dec. 3, 2003, available at http://www.billingsgazette.com/ index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2003/12/03/build/wyoming/ 30-environmentalcouncil.inc.
160. Dustin Bleizeffer, Gillette Tables Vote on Ban, Casper Star Trib., Nov. 21, 2000, at B1.
161. Press Release, Gillian Malone, Powder River Basin Resource Council, Brannaman Trial Verdict a Victory for All Surface Owner, at http:// www.powderriverbasin.org/cbm/pressreleases.shtml (last visited May 18, 2005).
162. See Bryner, supra note 18.
163. See id. at 17.
164. See id. at 35.
165. See Baumgartner & Jones, supra note 2, at 64.
166. See id. at 37.