Officials prepare for drilling worksessions

ANCHORAGE -- State agencies in a roundtable discussion Thursday left with a lot of assignments, and a clear deadline for information to be ready about state policies regarding coal-bed methane development.

A group made up of representatives from the state's departments of environmental conservation and natural resources, and the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, along with representatives from the Mat-Su Borough, dug into the list of questions raised at a DNR meeting held at Tanaina Elementary School Oct. 13. As the group tackled the list, they worked to find what, exactly, members of the public were seeking when they raised the issue, and how -- and what agency -- would best provide background information to address, if not alleviate, their concerns.

"The task at hand is to generate information that can be used by the public during the public work sessions," said Pat Galvin of DNR's division of oil and gas. Galvin was assigned the task of coordinating the Mat-Su Valley Coalbed Methane Project, and has been chairing the group of officials taking part in the project. They're preparing the information for upcoming public work sessions, the first of which is scheduled for Dec. 9. The work sessions will be held in the Valley, but a location and times for the work session have not yet been determined.

The group is not, Galvin said, developing guidelines for responsible coal-bed methane development. Although that was the intent of the group, according to the outline of project tasks DNR has previously presented, Galvin said some ideas have simply had to be refined through the process. One significant change is that the public guidelines will be developed through the upcoming public workshops, rather than by state and borough officials.

"Really, what we're doing here is, we want to put to the community information about what authorities exist," Galvin said after the Thursday meeting, "and then we'll see if there's a need for additional rules."

It's been an educational process, both for members of the audience who have squeezed into a conference room in the Abbott building in Anchorage and for the officials poring over the list of concerns from the table in the middle of the room, ringed by the audience. For some, it's been a process of translation. Both Galvin and Mat-Su Borough Manager John Duffy, several times Thursday afternoon, paused to clarify to other officials what they believed some concerns were getting at.

The fear of increased methane seepage was one such issue. A concern was raised that, when water was pulled out of a CBM well to get the methane, other stores of methane within the now-waterless coal seam would seep up to the surface through fractures in the non-permeable layer above the seam or old wells. After the concern was explained, Bob Crandall with AOGCC told Galvin he was still unsure about the concern.

"I'm going to have to give you a phone call and talk to you about this," Crandall said. "I'm kind of drawing a blank on it right now."

"The premise is, if you dewater a well … there are other ways for the methane to reach the surface," Galvin explained.

Crandall, understanding the premise, asked whether it would be beneficial to display how methane is pressurized within a coal seam before the well is perforated, and how methane reacts when the well casing becomes the area with the lowest pressure, essentially sucking the methane out.

Those at the table agreed the display would be helpful, but wrangled with the issue a while longer, considering the potential instances and likelihood of methane seepage.

"The permeability of those preexisting pathways is very, very low," Crandall explained.

"Let me put it this way -- be prepared for this discussion," Galvin said.

Galvin said it's been helpful to have the agency-to-agency discussion and see where each group fits into the coal-bed methane development and regulation picture.

"There really isn't an opportunity for agencies to talk about these things," Galvin said. "We have been able to take advantage of this opportunity to compare our authorities and discuss how those authorities work together."

The group plans to meet again Thursday in the Abbott building in Anchorage at 1:30 p.m. At that meeting, Galvin told the group, they should bring background information about the topics discussed at Thursday's meeting and others in the list of concerns gleaned from the Tanaina meeting last month. The group also plans to begin discussions about how the first public work session will take shape.

The Dec. 9 meeting, Galvin said, will likely be split into two work sessions -- one earlier in the day and one in the evening. The goal, he said, will be mostly to discuss what options for regulations already exist. It's just the first of what will be many meetings, he said. Future meetings will move toward the goal of defining -- and refining -- what regulations need to be in place.

"We want to give folks the maximum opportunity to participate," Galvin said.