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to the coal. The water is removed from the coal seams, which allows the methane to migrate to the upper surface at a loss of 100 million gallons of water a day. Known as the process of dewatering, it causes severe impacts on the land and environment, with an average well pumping fifteen gallons of water a minute which could total up to 100,000 gallons of water a day. Compared to the same wells in Colorado, Wyoming does not reinject the water back into the land's aquifers.

The Wyoming Outdoor Council is just one of the many environmental groups that are concerned that the development and production of coal bed methane wells will cause irreparable damage in the statedecreasing a much needed water quality and quanity, more air pollution, and many other developing issues. They feel the need of natural gas warrants the need to do a higher quality job while maintaining the quality of land in order to develop a clean-burning gas located in the seams of the coal.

ENVIRONMENTAL WATER CONCERNS FOR THE LAND

With water such an issue for environmentalists and in the world, water discharge has an extremely high impact on nearby wildlife in addition to fisheries in the Powder River Basinnot only serious but extremely negative in the long run. Other issues are the area's semi-arid climate. The water amounts for discharge when producing the well damages the Basin's landscape, environment, and natural ecology, doing irreparable alteration to the land with high erosions developing for an increase in water flow, causing damaging erosion and the loss of soil.

Once the discharged water is dumped into nearby canyons, gullies, or draws, the land is forced into an unnatural change. Normally Wyoming has rain only during the spring melt-off or with rainstorms. Wildlife use these areas for fawning and ranchers have herds of cattle using them for shelters during calving seasons. Discharged at very high rates, the water will flow north out of the state to Montana or South Dakota, leaving Wyoming's natural aquifers dry once the water is removed. This will forever change the land and its major rivers.

Since 1986, over 30 billion gallons of water has been produced and dumped in this dewatering process for the state's coal bed methane wells. Unfortunately, it will take over 1,000 years to recharge the land and gain back the lost water. Ranchers in the area will not be able to water their herds and wildlife will migrate away due to the massive dewatering process presently going on. Unfortunately, Wyoming has an eminent domain law which makes the rights of the mineral owner dominant over the rancher who owns the land.

Learn more about this author, Nancy L. Young-Houser.
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