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The Western Organization
of Resource Councils (WORC) joined its member organization, the
Powder River Basin Resource Council of Sheridan, Wyoming, and the
Wyoming Outdoor Council and the Natural Resource Defense Council
today in a legal challenge of the Final Environmental Impact Statements
and Record of Decision issued by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
for expanded coalbed methane in Montana and Wyoming.
WORC is a network of grassroots organizations from
seven states that include 8,250 members and 47 local community groups.
WORC helps its members succeed by providing training and by coordinating
regional issue campaigns. WORC represents farmers, ranchers, and
homeowners in Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, Colorado,
Idaho, and Oregon. For this legal challenge, WORC is representing
farmers, ranchers, and homeowners in Wyoming, Montana, and South
Dakota. Wyoming coalbed methane projects are already impacting water
resources in South Dakota.
The Bureau of Land Management has not listened
to the concerns of local farmers, ranchers, landowners, and others.
The federal agency has failed on two counts. First, BLM does not
protect the water, one of our most precious resources, in this decision.
Coalbed methane (CBM) development could pump billions of gallons
of groundwater from the Powder River Basin, risking the long-term
viability of our agricultural lands.
Second, the BLM has failed to protect landowners,
homeowners, and taxpayers. CBM companies with federal leases can
ignore property rights and drill wells, build roads, run pipelines
and transmission lines, dig containment ponds, erect compressor
stations, and add noisy compressor stations - all without the consent
of the landowner or homeowner.
A fairer, more reasonable decision would require
companies to develop CBM responsibly. Responsible CBM development
means:
- Effective monitoring of CBM development
and enforcement of laws to protect private property rights, clean
air and water, health, and natural resources.
- Surface owner consent and surface use
agreements.
- Use of aquifer recharge, clustered development,
and low impact technology to minimize impacts on underground water,
rivers, streams, and surface resources.
- Collection of thorough fish, wildlife,
and plant inventories before development proceeds to protect habitat,
followed by phased-in development to diffuse impacts over time.
- Meaningful public involvement in decision-makings.
- Complete reclamation and bonding to protect
taxpayers from cleanup liability.
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