Coal-bed methane fuels Montana-Wyoming feud

Gov. Dave Freudenthal has asked the Environmental Protection Agency to reject Montana water quality rules that he says would severely limit natural gas production in Wyoming.

However, Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer said his state intends to stick by its rules and said he’s not pleased Wyoming took the dispute to federal regulators.

Freudenthal announced Wednesday that his letter to Stephen L. Johnson, EPA administrator in Washington, D.C., asks the agency to appoint a mediator to resolve the dispute between the states. He wants discussion about the Montana rules and recognition that they ‘‘have serious impacts in Wyoming.’’

But Schweitzer maintains that Wyoming’s booming coal-bed methane development is already having serious impacts in Montana.

By Ben Neary of The Associated Press

Full Story: http://www.mtstandard.com/articles/2006/04/06/newsstate/hjjdjfjdjcggge.txt