Stating that a state-approved coal bed methane plan unconstitutionally allows methane companies to waste billions of gallons of groundwater and violate air and water quality standards, the Northern Plains Resource Council has filed a lawsuit against three Montana agencies.

Filed in Montana’s First Judicial District Court by the council, the Tongue and Yellowstone Irrigation District and the Montana Environmental Information Center, the lawsuit brings three constitutional claims against the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), Board of Oil and Gas Conservation (BOGC), and Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC). They include:

“Montana’s groundwater belongs to the people,” said Rosebud Creek rancher Clint McRae, a member of the Northern Plains Resource Council. “The state has a constitutional trust obligation to protect our groundwater. It’s illegal to let methane companies drain our aquifers and dry up wells and springs to which we have water rights — especially when technology exists to put the water back into the ground for our kids and grandkids.”

The lawsuit challenges the records of decision approved by the DEQ, BOGC, and DNRC authorizing the drilling of up to 26,000 coal bed methane wells in Montana in addition to the following:

As a result, the groups have asked the court to issue an injunction against the DEQ, DNRC, and BOGC to prevent the agencies from approving further methane development until the development falls within the bounds of the law.

“We’re talking about our water here,” said Roger Muggli, manager of the Tongue and Yellowstone Irrigation District. “Everyone knows the importance of conserving water. It’s outrageous the state agencies charged with protecting this resource would let one industry waste billions of gallons of our groundwater. Recharging these aquifers won’t happen in our lifetime.”

Despite the Montana Constitution’s requirement that all lands disturbed by natural resource extraction be reclaimed, the records of decision fail to require reclamation plans for roads, salty wastewater impoundments, pipelines and power lines, and well pads, the Resource Council claimed. In addition, the state-approved records of decision bypass pollution control technologies and acknowledge that methane development will result in the following air quality violations:

“It’s not a question of whether we develop our methane, it’s whether it’s done responsibly,” said McRae. Doing it right means having a framework for responsible methane development — and this sure isn’t doing it right.”

As a grassroots conservation and family agriculture group, the Northern Plains Resource Council organizes Montana citizens to protect water quality, family farms and ranches.

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