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Microcap & Penny Stocks : RGBL.OB RG Global Lifestyles, Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GC who wrote (319)	4/30/2008 12:33:32 PM
From: GC	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 337

********Wyo, Montana and feds in talks to settle CBM suit By CLAIR JOHNSON Billings Gazette Monday, September 3, 2007 2:04 AM MDT BILLINGS, Mont. -- Montana, Wyoming and the Environmental Protection Agency are making headway in trying to settle a lawsuit over Montana's water quality rules on the Tongue and Powder rivers. U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer recently granted a motion by Wyoming Attorney General Pat Crank to stay litigation until Oct. 7 so talks could continue. In court papers filed in early August, Crank said the parties were making "real progress" toward resolving issues and were committed to an "aggressive meeting schedule." A final agreement has not been reached, he said, because of the complexity of the issues and not by fault of any of the mediating parties. "The outlines of how Montana, Wyoming and the EPA might administer water quality on the Tongue River, the Powder River and their respective tributaries is taking shape," Crank said. Another 60 days would give the parties time to draft a proposed settlement for consideration by the governors of both states and other parties in the case, he said. The dispute centers on numeric water-quality standards for salinity that Montana adopted in 2003 and the EPA approved for the Tongue and Powder rivers and their tributaries. The rivers begin in Wyoming and flow to the Yellowstone River in Montana. The standards are aimed at protecting water quality from discharges of salty groundwater produced by drilling for coalbed methane. Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal objected to the standards and in April 2006 asked the EPA to reject Montana's rules, saying they would harm natural gas production in Wyoming. He asked the agency to appoint a mediator to resolve the dispute. Three energy companies - Pennaco Energy Inc., Marathon Oil Co. and Devon Energy Corp. - also sued the EPA in Wyoming, seeking judicial review to overturn the EPA's decision. Wyoming joined the case on the side of the companies, while Montana intervened to defend its standards. Numerous other companies and environmental organizations and irrigators also entered the suit. The EPA started mediation with Wyoming and Montana, along with the Northern Cheyenne Tribe. And almost a year ago, the EPA and the two states asked the judge to put litigation on hold "to enable officials at the highest level" of each governmental agency to try mediation. The parties have been meeting ever since and been providing the court status reports.