BLM asks that methane drilling continue

By the Associated Press - 03/30/2005

BILLINGS AP) — The Bureau of Land Management is asking a federal magistrate to allow continued coal-bed methane drilling on federal leases in southern Montana while the agency completes another environmental study on the activity.

Last month, U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard Anderson decided that a 2003 environmental impact statement looking at the potential effects of coal-bed methane development in Montana's Powder River Basin was inadequate because it failed to analyze a phased-development alternative. The government said in court documents that the supplemental study would address phased development.

The Northern Plains Resource Council and the Northern Cheyenne Indian tribe sued in 2003, claiming, among other things, that the agency failed to consider alternatives to ‘‘full-field'' development and failed to take a hard look at the potential effects on such things as air quality, water and wildlife.

The conservation group and tribe have asked that all new drilling be halted on federal leases until BLM completes a supplemental environmental study. The BLM is asking that limited development be allowed to continue while the study is conducted.

Anderson did not immediately rule on Tuesday.

Work on the new study already has started, but BLM State Director Marty Ott testified it would take at least 18 months to complete. He called the interim proposal offered to the court for consideration a ‘‘conservative one.''