DOE Evalution on Water Quality Law

MONTANA, May 08 2008 (Neo Natura) - During 2005, the Montana Board of Environmental Review (BER) announced proposed changes to Montana water quality regulations. The proposal was directed to discharges of water from coal bed natural gas (CBNG) production, and if adopted, could substantially reduce the amount of CBNG production in Montana. Potential impacts could also extend to Wyoming CBNG production through much greater restrictions on water quality that must be met at the interstate border.

DOE’s interest in this proposal stems from the importance of CBNG to U.S. natural gas supply. CBNG currently accounts for 9 percent of U.S. natural gas production and the Powder River Basin, situated in Montana and Wyoming and having a recoverable resource potential in excess of 25 trillion cubic feet, is a prime future source for U.S. natural gas supply. This is especially important in these times of tight natural gas supply and high prices.

DOE conducts technical and regulatory analyses to assist federal and state agencies in developing regulatory requirements that provide environmental benefits commensurate with their economic and energy impacts. These analyses serve to provide a scientific basis for regulatory and land management decision making.

For the proposed Montana CBNG water management rule, DOE tasked Argonne National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratory to evaluate various aspects of the proposal. Argonne focused on regulatory and policy issues and their interrelationships with technology, and Sandia focused on water treatment and engineering, hydrologic and geologic technical issues associated with the zero discharge requirements of the proposal. The findings of these efforts were submitted for the record to the Montana BER.