DNR changes workshop schedules

MAT-SU -- The Alaska Department of Natural Resources Friday announced a change in the schedule for the upcoming coal-bed methane workshops.

The public meetings were set to begin this week, but agency officials said after further consideration, they felt more time was needed to put information together.

"We're just trying to get prepared so we can have handouts for the public to look at," said DNR staffer Nancy Welch. Things such as existing regulations, she said, are still being compiled into a workable form. "We're trying to get it from all the agencies and synthesize it."

Mat-Su Borough Manager John Duffy had initially asked for the request.

"I knew that we needed some additional time to prepare," Duffy said of borough staff. He said looking at the information brought to inter-agency planning meetings that have been held during the past three months, others needed additional time as well. "It's very important that all the agencies are prepared to walk into those meetings and be able to discuss the issues."

The meetings have been moved back one week, and are set to begin Jan. 28 at 6 p.m. All meetings will be held at Teeland Middle School. Meetings will be held the two following Wednesdays, Feb. 4 and 18, and the sessions will wrap up with a 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday session Feb. 28. That's a change from the original scheduled, in which an afternoon and an evening session were planned for each day. The change, Welch said, was to avoid potential difficulties in the future.

"Internally, at DNR, we had a team of people giving advice to Pat [Galvin, who's heading the project for DNR] who had run similar meetings," Welch said. "If you try to get one product out of two workshops, it's almost impossible."

Instead, Welch said, they've linked each workshop with a clear topic, with the goal that people can attend a workshop related to the topic they're most interested in. The first workshop will kick off with an overview and public notice issues, followed by a workshop on public rights issues, and surface impact issues. The Saturday workshop, Welch said, will focus on water management and drinking water protection.

"We wanted a full-day session with the water because we didn't think a three-hour session could handle it," Welch said.

Although the sessions are geared to build on one another, Welch said it's not necessary to attend each of the four sessions.

"Some people are not concerned about property rights, but are concerned about water. A lot of stuff will naturally build over the sessions," Welch said. "But if you want to have your opinion made known, you really need to go to all of them."

Welch said the delay shouldn't affect permits for shallow-gas producers. DNR, she said, had agreed to consider permits that were already in the works, and any new applications will come under the new standards.

The public workshops won't be the end of the discussion about new regulations, Welch said. After the workshops end, the agencies involved will compile the results and work to develop a new set of regulations pertaining to shallow-gas development. When the compilation is done, Welch said, another round of public meetings will be held -- possibly as soon as March.