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Coal bed methane (CBM) deposits are plentiful throughout Wyoming. So is a natural beauty that is unmatched elsewhere and an abundance of humans, wildlife, and vegetation that is a precious commodity in our world. Wyoming's natural habitats are being destroyed at a rapid rate and not only is the government allowing it, they are encouraging it.

To begin with Wyoming doesn't charge it's residents an income tax and the greed for the 40 percent of their revenue that they receive from energy companies is causing the state government to turn it's proverbial back on the people who call Wyoming home. The states flaccid regulatory laws are just fueling the battles between the property owners and the huge energy conglomerates.

Property owners in Wyoming own the surface rights to their property, not the underground mineral rights. The underground minerals are owned or leased, from the government, by these large energy companies. According to the Wyoming state government, these companies have the right to come onto the surface property owned by anyone and commence to tear up the land, build right-of-way roads, drill, pump 100's of thousands of gallons of contaminated water onto the surface property, make their money, and then just leave all the mess, contamination and rebuilding of the environment to the surface owner.

This is wrong. Experts have estimated that there is approximately 39 trillion cubic feet of methane gas under the surface of the Powder River Basin alone. Sounds like a lot until you find out that that is only just over one year's supply for the nation. The US Bureau of Land Management estimates there will be 80,000 wells drilled in the Powder River Basin by 2010 and could ,in time, be upwards of 139,000, or one every 80 acres, on land that has been open and untouched.

One well can cause such damage, it is almost unthinkable what irreversible effects this will have on the people, as well as the land in Wyoming. Approximately 4 acres of land are, at a minimum, disturbed in the initial building of the well. Then for the first 2 years the well will pump nothing but water, at a rate of up to 100 gallons a minute, causing massive erosion damage and irreparable soil damage. Domestic and livestock wells are drying up, while others are becoming contaminated with gas and other exhumed elements, one of which is salt. An average of 100 tons of salt a year per well will be dumped on the lands of the Powder River Basin.

Colorado law regulates these huge companies and keeps them somewhat responsible, requiring them to reinject the water back into the deep strata. Wyoming has no such regulation, allowing meadows, woodland, and even wetlands to be destroyed by billions of gallons of water contaminated with sodium, calcium, and magnesium.

Another issue the people of Wyoming are facing is the fact that CBM does not follow any particular path when it is released. It heads to the surface in any direction it can find. Being odor and color-less, it can collect in buildings and eventually explode.

Destroying the land, killing the wildlife, and angering the people of Wyoming doesn't seem to be a big enough problem for the government to look in the mirror and make some much needed changes. The people of Wyoming are praying the government will realize their mistake while there is still time to save, not only the rugged, beautiful Powder River Basin, but all of Wyoming.

Learn more about this author, Wendy Lafond.
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