The latest dustup comes over the issue of coalbed methane extraction and its impact on Montana's lakes and rivers. With science on his side, and backed by a report produced by the EPA, Schweitzer has issued a new set of rules that would limit the impact of extraction on nearby watersheds. But state officials in Wyoming are unhappy with his decision, and they're working with the administration to block Montana's efforts. Here are the details, provided by the Washington Post
| Federal energy officials are opposing new rules by Montana to force companies that extract methane gas from underground coal beds to clean up the water pollution caused by drilling operations, even as state officials cite an unreleased 2003 federal report that says cleanup costs are relatively inexpensive.
The Denver office of the Environmental Protection Agency produced the report but never published it, saying it related to a proposed drilling application that was dropped. A Montana consulting firm obtained a copy of the EPA report, however, and handed it over to Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D). Last month, Montana's Board of Environmental Review, citing the EPA paper and other economic studies, voted to force coalbed methane companies to leave the state's streams as clean as they were before drilling started, although the companies do not have to clean up existing pollution. "We want to develop energy in Montana, but we want to do it right," Schweitzer said in an interview. "Here's the bottom line with the federal government: They're usually not helpful, and they weren't this time, either." The Energy Department and the Wyoming congressional delegation are backing companies that are trying to block Montana's new rules, on the grounds that they could hamper energy development. The department submitted analyses by two of its national laboratories concluding that the state's regulations were "unnecessarily stringent" and "inconsistent." |
My favorite part of the article comes at the very end. Funny how it always works that way. Here it is:
| "The place where people are developing coalbed methane is the place where people make a living irrigating," he said. "The coalbed methane company is going to come and go in 10 years. But that rancher and his family have been there for 150 years. Who's going to take care of that rancher's grandchildren when there's no water?" |
That, in a nutshell, is the debate over federal land use that's been taking place for the last 150 years. And Schweitzer no doubt knows that he's positioning himself on the side that's won the battle every single time. Extraction industries live side by side with ranchers and farmers, but whereas he first gets what they need from the land and leaves, the second remains with the land for generation. That tension between short and long-term thinking is a crucial dynamic in the West, one that often leads to long-term realignments.
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