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CBNGA Buffalo Education Fair
September 30, 2004
BUFFALO, WY - The Coalbed Natural Gas Alliance and the Buffalo Office of the Bureau of Land Management hosted an educational fair on issues and information surrounding coalbed natural gas development. Approximately 72 people attended the fair which was held at the Historic Bozeman Crossing Conference Center in Buffalo.

Marilyn Connolly, Chair of the Johnson County Commissioners, opened the meeting by thanking the sponsors and welcoming those locals who had come to learn more. Bruce Williams of Fidelity Exploration and Production gave an overview of coalbed natural gas with his "CBNG 101" presentation. John Wagner of the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality; Pat Tyrell of the Wyoming State Engineers Office, and Richard Zander of the Buffalo Field Office of the BLM participated on the regulatory panel discussion. Each offered an overview of how their agency is involved in the CBNG development. This panel entertained the most questions from the audience.

Landowners were invited from various areas of the Powder River Basin. They included Rich Lynde from Gillette, Carl Dewey from Sheridan, Tom Harriett of Buffalo and Joanne Tweedy of Gillette. Panel members either produced pictures of their ranches both before and after development or spoke about the first-hand experiences they had and are having with coalbed natural gas development on their land. The before and after pictures shared by Mr. Lynde and Mr. Dewey documented the positive results their ranches have seen to date from the development.

Wayne Ransbottom, a landman with Pennaco Energy, also participated on the landowner issue panel. Mr. Ransbottom suggested that landowners will most likely have a positive experience if they understand the development process and are involved with what is occurring on their land on an ongoing basis. Kit Laramore participated on the landowner issue panel explaining how critical it is to be aware of the noxious weed issues and how those issues are being addressed by companies and through surface use agreements with the landowners.

The environmental panel focus leaned toward water issues with presentations by John Wheaton of the Montana Bureau of Mines and Technology, Kevin Harvey of Kevin Harvey, Inc. and Joe Olson of Williams Energy. Mr. Wheaton focused on regional water information with Mr. Harvey offering more definition of key water terminology and Mr. Olson showing examples of the variety of ways operators handle CBNG water.

The last presenter, Todd Cornish of the Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory - University of Wyoming, offered an update of his work on the West Nile Virus and touched on Sage Grouse issues as well.

All the presentations given will be posted on the CBNGA's website, www.cbnga.com.

Prime sponsors of the educational fair were the Buffalo Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management and the Coalbed Natural Gas Alliance. Specific industry sponsors of the event included Marathon, Fidelity Exploration and Production Company, Nance Petroleum, Yates Petroleum, Bill Barrett Corporation, JM Huber, Western Gas Resources, Williams, Devon Energy and Anadarko.

The CBNGA's mission is to inform and communicate accurate information as well as provide education about coalbed natural gas development primarily within the Powder River Basin. The CBNGA is composed of energy providers, businesses, ranchers, farmers and citizens throughout Montana and Wyoming that support responsible energy development.