Environmental group files suit over proposed methane wells

The Associated Press

An environmental group has filed a lawsuit, contending a state board acted illegally in approving a plan to drill more than 200 coalbed methane wells in southeastern Montana.

The Montana Board of Oil and Gas Conservation “violated its clear legal duty” by not first doing an environmental review, the Montana Environmental Information Center argues in a District Court suit filed at Hardin this week.

At issue is the Coal Creek Project, proposed near the Wyoming border by Denver-based Fidelity Exploration and Production Co. Fidelity is the only company producing coalbed methane in Montana. It has 327 production wells in the Decker area. Board administrator Tom Richmond suggested the suit was unnecessary because an environmental assessment is being conducted and no drilling will be allowed until it is completed and accepted by the board. “They’re suing us for something we’re doing,” Richmond said.

In January, Fidelity submitted a plan of development for the Tongue River-Coal Creek Project, proposing 217 wells.

Tim Rasmussen, a spokesman for Fidelity, said, “As with the other cases that have been brought forward by those groups desiring to obstruct legitimate business development in Montana, this case focuses on the process rather than on a point of environmental significance.”