Gallatin County delays methane gas wells

The Gallatin County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday in favor of
imposing a one-year moratorium on the construction of coalbed methane wells, with the possibility of
expanding the ban to include oil and conventional natural gas.

BY DAN BECKMANN
Medill News Service Billings Gazette

"We are at war," said Gallatin County Commissioner John Vincent. "We need to do everything that we can to block them."
The year-long moratorium goes into effect immediately and prohibits the construction of any coalbed methane wells for
testing or drilling in an interim zoning area set up in the county for this purpose.
Gallatin County has entered uncharted territory in using county zoning ordinances to prevent coalbed methane
development.

"We are testing the powers of zoning and interim zoning districts," County Planning Director Jennifer Madgic said.
The J.M. Huber Corp., which owns mineral rights throughout Gallatin County and has plans to develop coalbed methane
wells, has filed suit against the county in state and federal courts. Last week, Huber applied to the Montana Board of Oil and
Gas Conservation for the right to extract the natural gas using conventional methods in addition to coalbed methane drilling.
"I think this has shown Huber’s true colors. They don’t want to play fair, they want to play a chess game," said Bill
Murdoch, chairman of the county commission. "They don’t care about the public interest. They have tried everything they can
to make a buck up there."

Gallatin County plans to extend the moratorium to include conventional natural gas and oil drilling.
"We’re going to have to go through a formal amendment to the moratorium and unfortunately we can’t do that today," said
Madgic.
The Board of Oil and Natural Gas will address Huber’s application at its meeting at 8 a.m. Thursday at the Sheraton Hotel
in Billings.
No protest was posted against the moratorium. Protests can be filed only by county residents.

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