Summer - Northern Plains Resource Council

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$Hydraulic fracturing - Northern Plains Resource Council$

On June 8, members of Northern Plains’ affiliate Bull Mountain Land Alliance (BMLA) met with representatives from Montana’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and the federal Office of Surface Mining (OSM), as well as staff from Signal Peak Energy. They took them on a tour of the surface effects of underground longwall coal mining in the Bull Mountains. While some surface subsidence cracks caused by mining the coal underground are “healing” (recompressing), some are not. The unhealed cracks on steep slopes are particularly troubling as they pose a risk of slope failure. land and water Officials tour mine land subsidence Coal industry representatives have long said that cracks would heal on their own, a claim the state has historically seemed willing to accept. The trip provided conclusive evidence that, to date, the industry’s claims don’t hold up. Along with subsidence, the tour highlighted the risk that coal mining poses to water resources. A visit to Litsky’s Spring, which sits above one of the panels of coal that has already been mined, revealed substantial drawdown in an adjacent deep monitoring well due to mining. The spring pond itself was well below its high water mark. The deeper monitoring well at the site has recovered a small amount. Gaining ground Bull Mountain Land Alliance members are confident that their efforts to protect agricultural land above mined areas are making headway. For instance, DEQ and Signal Peak have committed to monitoring the length and width of a long crack on Dunn Mountain. This physical monitoring goes beyond prior monitoring which, up until now, has only measured elevation change. DEQ has also pushed Signal Peak to establish a subsidence reclamation plan and to do more emergency response planning to reduce surface disturbance in the future. Surface equipment Also of note, the mine has recently Photo courtesy of Don Thompson Onlookers view subsidence cracks, like the one in the foreground, on Ellen Pfi ster and Don Golder’s ranch high in the Bull Mountains during the Bull Mountains Land Subsidence Tour and Picnic on July 15. Tour, picnic highlight mine cracks on ranchland Ellen Pfi ster had to pump nitrogen into the underground operations due to carbon monoxide problems – a process that had large surface effects. A surface pad, pipeline, equipment for injection, and more tore up Ellen Pfister and Don Golder’s land. The mine has now moved the equipment underground to reduce future surface disruption. Signal Peak purchased a nitrogen generator and on-site lab for maintaining air quality in its underground operations. There are, however, new challenges and trade-offs. Signal Peak has encountered unforeseen problems with the predictability and stability of the longwall roof under Dunn Mountain and are having to “seal the gob,” a process which involves About 35 people from around the state gathered July 15 to tour land subsidence on Northern Plains members Ellen Pfister and Don Golder’s Hereford ranch in the Bull Mountains, north of Billings. Ellen and neighbor Steve Charter, both longtime member leaders in Northern Plains and affiliate Bull Mountain Land Alliance, injecting a special expanding concrete into the mine to separate mined-out areas from the rest of the mine as they proceed. The former nitrogen injection sites have been replaced by concrete injection sites. Signal Peak plans to construct an industrial road with a 90-foot right-of-way through some of the roughest drainages below Dunn Mountain. Water protection bonding Also, BMLA’s calls for additional bonding to protect water over the long-term remains unresolved. Still, there is no doubt the group has made noteworthy progress and is wellpositioned to go even farther in the future. – Svein Newman showed the subsidence cracks and other surface damage caused by underground coal mining by Signal Peak Energy. In addition, they provided history and other context for how coal mining is affecting ranching in the area. After the tour, the group enjoyed a picnic, silent auction, and live music. – Svein Newman 30¢ a ton lease near The State Land Board on June 27 received a bid of 30 cents per ton from Signal Peak Energy to lease state-owned coal in the “life of mine area” of its Bull Mountain coal mine. The bid, for coal destined for export to Asian markets, is identical to the amount for which the Bureau of Land Management leased federal coal in the Bull Mountains earlier this year. Northern Plains has challenged the BLM’s valuation as too low, given that the government is getting over a $1 per ton for coal in Wyoming, and Asian markets have paid coal companies record prices of over $100 per ton. The Land Board will soon decide whether to proceed with the lease. – Svein Newman The Plains Truth Summer 2012 Page 6
land and water Momentum builds for needed drilling rules What you can do: Send in comments using the talking points below to the Bureau of Land Management by September 10. • Your subject line should be Re: Oil and Gas: Well Stimulation, Including Hydraulic Fracturing, on Federal and Indian Lands (Document ID BLM- 2012-0001-0001) • The website where you can comment is http:// www.regulations.gov/# !submitComment;D=B LM-2012-0001-0001 • Mail: U.S. Department of the Interior, Director (630), Bureau of Land Management, Mail Stop 2134 LM, 1849 C St. NW., Washington, DC 20240, Attention: 1004-AE26. Talking points: • Require oil and gas companies to disclose the chemicals they plan to use before fracking is permitted. Nearby residents would then be able to learn what chemicals the companies intend to use, comment on the chemicals, and have BLM address those comments. In addition, residents could test their water for contamination by those chemicals. • Bar use of all pits (lined and unlined) for wastewater from drilling and fracking. Overflowing pits are a common source of contamination on oil and gas sites. They can be replaced with closed tanks which won’t leak or overflow. • Establish “no drill” zones around homes and water supplies. Independent research shows a higher risk There is good news on the way for people who live in areas where federal oil and gas is being developed. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has put draft “well stimulation and chemical disclosure rules” out for public comment, and it just extended the deadline until September 10 for public comment. (“Well stimulation” involves chemical procedures for squeezing more production from an oil or gas well.) The BLM has a chance to set the bar higher for chemical disclosure and general well stimulation rules. Up until now, the states have handled this regulation with mixed results. Northern Plains led the push in the 2011 Legislature to get chemical disclosure laws for oil and gas wells in Montana, but the Board of Oil and Gas Conservation ended up adopting rules that still allow for “trade secrets” – leaving a large percentage of chemicals unidentified. of air pollution and water contamination for a half-mile around drill sites. A half-mile buffer zone around well bores would lower the risk of people getting sick and water supplies being contaminated. • Require oil and gas companies to conduct and make available baseline water quality tests that will help document whether contamination occurs after drilling and fracking. It’s time for Getting stronger rules in place is timely, with new oil and gas fields popping up around Montana. In particular the Heath Shale (between Lewistown and Winnett) is seeing the drilling of new exploratory wells. A Northern Plains member from Lewistown recently took the photo (below) at the site of an exploratory well 11 miles west of Big Spring. At the federal level, the push has been for rules to address myriad reported problems associated with fracking. The Stop the Frack Attack rally, sponsored by citizens across the U.S., took place July 28 in Washington, D.C. Northern Plains endorsed the rally and members of the WORC network attended. It has taken a long time for the BLM to make a constructive response to all the drilling problems of recent years. Your comments to the BLM can help make for a constructive change. – Becca Fischer Site for an exploratory well 11 miles west of Big Spring near Lewistown. regulators to collect real data to determine just how widespread contamination from oil and gas development is. • Require drilling companies to document pathways for contamination, such as any existing faults, fractures, and oil and gas wells, and avoid fracking in areas where there is a high risk of contamination. – Becca Fischer The Plains Truth Summer 2012 Page 7 Wyoming farmer/rancher John Fenton tells Lewistown-area residents about problems that might lie ahead with increased oil and gas development. Wyoming rancher frank about fracking Wyoming farmer/rancher John Fenton shared information for Lewistown residents about what it’s like to live with oil and gas on your land – and not much was good news. About 80 Lewistown-area residents turned out to hear John’s experiences at a showing of Gasland, a documentary about hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, of oil and gas wells. The Wyoming rancher is featured in the film. “If you think they are drilling for American energy independence, you’re mistaken. These corporations are only doing this to make a profit,” John warned. He’s been dealing with the effects of drilling on his land for many years now, losing some of his animals and suffering headaches himself. Though he, along with neighbors, spent almost 10 years trying to get the State of Wyoming to do water testing, his neighbors finally gave up and spent $18,000 doing three of their own tests. John is a member of Powder River Basin Resource Council, a Wyoming sister organization to Northern Plains. Asked why he’s still on his family farm and hasn’t given up and moved, his answer was two-fold. For one, he doesn’t think it would sell. But really, it’s their way of life and they don’t want to leave. As oil and gas production continues to spread into Montana, questions are inevitable about the sheer quantity of water that will be diverted toward resource extraction. One to eight million gallons of water are used for every fracking event, and a well can be fracked as many as 10 times. Northern Plains published a new factsheet in May, called Your Water, Your Rights. Check it out on our website, and stay tuned for ways to get involved. – Olivia Stockman
Page 1 and 2: For 40 Years Protecting Montana’s
Page 3 and 4: people of the plains Commitment to
Page 5: What would you do if 40-50 addition
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Page 11 and 12: 2012 Election Vote No on Referendu
Page 13 and 14: Much work remains on Farm Bill: Big
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Summer - Northern Plains Resource Council

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