CBM workshops begin, but some question outcome

MAT-SU -- The long-awaited coal-bed methane workshops are under way, but not without an air of doubt about their potential effectiveness.

As more than 100 people filed into the cafetorium at Teeland Middle School to kick off the first workshop Wednesday, Friends of Mat-Su president Chris Whittington-Evans held a press conference to discuss problems the group has seen with the process leading up to the workshops.

Whittington-Evans said the group has been involved in the discussion regarding coal-bed methane development in the Valley since the first leases were issued, but has become frustrated by the lack of response to citizens' requests for more public notice. And, he said, the process currently going forward only recommends changes to regulations under the Department of Natural Resources' purview, not to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, the Department of Environmental Conservation or the Department of Fish and Game, all of which have regulations that potentially touch on shallow-gas development.

"What's coming out of this process, as we understand it, is a list of recommendations that DNR may, with the approval of Commissioner [Tom] Irwin, may eventually turn into rules," Whittington-Evans said. "But not the other entities."

Pat Galvin, with DNR's Division of Oil and Gas, said shortly afterward that he thought it was a little unfair for Whittington-Evans to kick off the meetings by saying DNR was not going to do what they had purported to. Galvin said Whittington-Evans was correct in estimating what would come out of the process, however -- changes to other agencies' rules will have to be done through those agencies, not DNR.

"We're trying to address what we can; what we can address is getting our rules in place. I think we have a great opportunity to do that," Galvin said. "There are issues beyond our control -- we can't do anything about them. Some of those issues, there may be legislators working on them. Next week is a prime example -- property rights. That's likely to spill over to non-DNR issues."