DAWN De BUSK/Frontiersman reporter

In an effort to help educate homeowners who might be forced in the future to deal with coal-bed methane drilling companies, Friends of Mat-Su last week sponsored a landowner workshop that gave community members a chance to listen to people who have come face to face with the negative effects of coal-bed methane drilling in the Lower 48.

The negative effects of drilling that were seen in some areas brought forth a need to demand better practices of the oil companies, said Gwen Lachelt, oil & gas accountability project director for Earthworks, who has worked with coal-bed methane drilling issues in the Four Corners area of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico. During Tuesday's workshop at Evangelo's, Lachelt and Jill Morrison, Powder River Basin Resource Council's organizer, offered homeowners advice about how to keep drilling companies from taking advantage of them.

"Look specifically at what the leases issued say. Work with the state. What stipulations can be put in place to protect land under mineral lease contracts. That's a key place to take control," Morrison said.

Coal-bed methane is natural gas held inside underground coal seams by the pressure of water above it. This natural gas can be freed by pumping out groundwater to relieve the pressure on the gas. Fracturing fluids are also used to make the well produce more gas.

In recent years, Evergreen Resources acquired leases and had leases pending to a total of nearly 300,000 acres of land in the Mat-Su, prompting a furor among landowners, since the state of Alaska - not individual property owners - owns subsurface rights.

"Traditional oil and gas was drilled on the fringes of our populated land, but coal-bed methane drilling occurs under our homes," said Bob Shavelson, of Cook Inlet Keeper.

Rep. Vic Kohring, R-District 14, in an interview Friday said he supports people's private-property rights, "but some people are trying to shut down the industry whether it has a direct effect on their property or not. It has nothing to do with private-property rights."

"The coal-bed methane industry (could have brought) a plentiful source of inexpensive natural gas that the area much needs, given its growth, especially since the area is running out of gas and oil," Kohring said. "The Cook Inlet gas reserves are drying up quickly - it's estimated by 2008 they'll be gone. We'll see shortages and skyrocket of prices. That's what I predict."

Last year, Evergreen Resources and Pioneer Natural Resources merged, with Pioneer taking over Evergreen's leases in Mat-Su. Pioneer then released those Evergreen leases, but retained 48,000 acres on conventional oil and gas leases in the Pioneer unit.

Currently, 17,000 acres in the Mat-Su area have been leased for drilling. That acreage, located near Big Lake, includes state-owned land, private-owned land and Mental Health Trust land. In addition, exploration is being done on 800,000 acres west of the Susitna River, according to Chris Whittington-Evans, a Palmer graphics designer. He said Evergreen owns eight pilot wells near Houston and Big Lake.

"Ninety percent of those people don't know they have a lease under their feet," Whittington-Evans said.

Coal-bed methane can yield six to seven times more gas than a conventional gas reservoir of equal rock value, according to a Cook Inlet Keeper brochure. The gas is extracted by relieving water pressure, a procedure known as dewatering. That process creates huge amounts of highly salinated water that must be discharged, usually on the property where drilling occurs.

In Colorado, Morrison has seen firsthand how drilling companies have discharged large amounts of water onto the land, claiming it would help agricultural areas. However, the high salt content of the water changed pH levels of the land.

"We've had to litigate for everything we've got," said Morrison, referring to reforms to the industry and laws strengthening protection of property owners' surface land. Now, the industry must enter into good-faith, surface-land agreements with the landowners. The industry is also bound by law to compensate for damages done by drilling.

"Alaskans should do the battling up front instead of dealing with legislation after the fact," Morrison said.

In dealing with coal-bed methane drilling companies, educating oneself is paramount, the workshop speakers agreed.

The self-education includes: Checking out Web sites of landowner organizations, as well those of companies owning leases in the area; learning how the resources might be developed; discussing details with neighbors or people who have been involved in negotiations with coal-bed methane companies and bringing issues before political assemblies.

"Alaskan citizens have to get out and ask the hard questions," said Morrison, adding that Valley residents have already started to stand up for their rights.

Lachelt suggested homeowners - who might be subject to drilling on their properties - should go through the processes to strengthen surface-owners' protections and put pressure on the state to pass better laws.

In October, the Mat-Su Borough Assembly passed an ordinance giving the surface owner right of refusal to drilling companies, providing landowners with surface-protection rights and requiring the industry to give good public notice.

"It's the strictest ordinance in the state," Whittington-Evans said.

"There's still a lot of denial on the part of the state," Morrison said. "[The coal-bed methane process] is so experimental."

Kohring said the state has passed stronger regulations, like the best-interest finding from the Department of Natural Resources.

"It's such a long, arduous process that it's really discouraged the industry," he said.

Morrison told landowners it's a good idea to take an aerial photograph of property before any drilling occurs. If drilling does begin, property owners should continue to take photographs to document any damage to land.

Morrison's handout guides landowners through the negotiation process with potential companies.

Some of the tips as they appear in the handout:

� Make sure your agreement addresses water quality, quantity, well locations and any increased costs to you due to the coal-bed methane development. Make sure your water wells are registered with the state engineer.

� Require the company to gather monitoring and baseline data by a consultant of your choice prior to anything happening on your property.

� Detail what specifically constitutes a breach of the agreement and give a limited time to cure a breach - include a penalty for violation of the agreement.

To receive this full list of advice on negotiating coal-bed methane leases or get other information, e-mail the Powder River Basin Resource Council, prbrc@powerriverbasin.org, or call (307) 672-5809.

"Coal-bed methane development is so much more intensive on land and water than gas drilling," said Shavelson, who dealt with coal-bed methane drilling companies on the Kenai Peninsula.

"There's an enormous impact to landscape, a huge infrastructure of roads and wires," said Morrison, who has seen drilling in Colorado's Power River Basin. She also cited air pollution, smelly barium, methane gas seepage and underground coal fires as negative consequences of coal-bed methane drilling.

People who attended the seminar asked how the dumping of water during the dewatering process might affect wetlands.

Morrison said she couldn't predict that outcome, but she said residents could try to push the industry to do water treatment before dumping water.

"Ask the industry to do phase development to replace or inject water slowly," she said.

"The whole argument about whether it's going to happen or where it's going to happen is mute," said Kohring. "I really believe the industry is dead. It's been killed just as other industries have been killed by people who are against any development."

Earthworks' oil & gas accountability project director Lachelt outlined some ways the industry can help reduce the impact drilling has on landowners' property. This better practices list includes:

� Using storage tanks for waste water so pets and wildlife don't drink it;

� Using smaller drilling pads;

� Getting more use out of each drill, by using horizontal-drilling techniques;

� Accommodating surface uses of the landowner, like farming;

� Adequately lining drilling waste pits;

� Advocating pitless drilling;

� Burying lines at least 48 inches below the surface;

� Allowing vegetation to regrow;

� Reducing noise levels by using electrical motors, and

� Disguising compressor stations by housing them in structures, which complements property and reduces noise.

"(Unchecked drilling) turns a neighborhood into an industrial park," Whittington-Evans said.

"There's a deep emotional side effect on people who deal with producers," Morrison said. "And socio-economic impacts happen, too. The boom doesn't trickle back to the counties (boroughs in Alaska) or the cities."

Kohring said he doesn't expect to see more coal-bed methane development locally.

"Politicians are afraid to touch the issue," he said. "It's too politically volatile, especially after what happened two years ago with all the complaining."

He suggested as an alternative to methane-gas energy, discovering more gas in the Cook Inlet with deep conventional wells and supporting the natural gas spur from Glennallen

to Palmer.