EPA trans State Water Rule for Wyomng, Montana

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EPA trans State Water Rule for Wyomng, Montana

EPA Approves Water Quality Rules Dividing Montana, Wyoming

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency waded into a long-running skirmish between two states by approving water quality rules meant to protect southeastern Montana cropland from wastewater produced during natural gas drilling in neighboring Wyoming.

Wyoming officials and oil and gas companies have assailed the rules as a threat to energy production. The rules set standards that limit how much salty water — a byproduct of drilling — can enter waterways in the Tongue and Powder River basins along the Montana-Wyoming border.

Some farmers have said their crop yields dropped by more than half due to poor-quality water flowing out of Wyoming gas fields.

Montana and the Northern Cheyenne Tribe first proposed the rules more than a decade ago.

Some of the nation's largest gas companies — including Marathon Oil, Anadarko Petroleum and Devon Energy — challenged the rules in federal court in 2006 after the EPA initially approved them. Wyoming officials also sued.

EPA Assistant Regional Administrator Martin Hestmark issued a pair of letters Tuesday approving the rules. They "protect Montana's agricultural water supply and are scientifically defensible," Hestmark wrote.


The rules are just one aspect of a tussle between Montana and Wyoming over the rivers that flow north across their shared border.

A type of gas known as coal-bed methane is common in that area, and companies drilled some 30,000 wells over the last decade, primarily in Wyoming. Coal-bed methane is typically found in underground seams saturated with water, meaning millions of gallons of water must be pumped out to free the trapped gas.

The two states also have grappled over how much water each is entitled to in portions of the Yellowstone River basin, which includes the Tongue and Powder Rivers. That dispute is the subject of a pending case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Source: ABC News

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