Study shows CBM water treatment affordable
Saturday, August 28, 2004 8:26 AM MDT
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- Reinjecting coal-bed methane wastewater into the ground or treating it are both affordable options that won't prevent producers from making a profit, says a study released Thursday by a conservation group.
"If they're going to make those kinds of profits, can't they afford to do the right thing by the people of Montana?" asked Jim Kuipers, whose Butte consulting firm prepared the study. It was funded by the Northern Plains Resource Council, which has fought to limit coal-bed development in Wyoming and Montana.
Most companies extracting coal-bed methane manage wastewater by discharging it into rivers, allowing it to evaporate or seep from holding ponds or spraying it through sprinklers. These methods prompt concern from irrigators and others who worry about depletion of groundwater and pollution from the wastewater, which is high in salt content.
"We found that, with today's gas prices, reinjection, injection and water treatment are very much affordable and reduce the industry's investment return by just a small fraction," Kuipers said. "Even in the unlikely event that gas prices drop to $2.50 per thousand cubic feet, these technologies are absolutely affordable."
Using an EPA report and his own analysis, Kuipers looked at the economics of treatment using a lower and a higher price for natural gas. The report found that a producer making a 40 percent return on investment at a price of $2.50 per thousand cubic feet of gas would still see a 34 percent return if all the wastewater were reinjected and a 30 percent return if the wastewater were treated before discharge.
The Northern Plains Resource Council released the study as a draft and said it would accept public comment for 60 days.
"We are more than glad to reconsider our findings if they (producers) can provide information that suggests we did not get things correct," Kuipers said. |
