FEPCO fails "Good Neighbor" test

In rural Montana, we "neighbor." When someone down the road is branding, you help out. You look out for your neighbors because their interests are your own. You do what it takes to make your community a better place to live, work, and raise a family.

We live in a community that neighbors Stillwater Mining Company's (SMC) East Boulder Mine. The mine is one of the most responsible in the country thanks to the "neighboring" created by the Good Neighbor Agreement between SMC, Northern Plains Resource Council, and its affiliates Stillwater Protective Association and Cottonwood Resource Council.

As negotiators of the Good Neighbor Agreement and longtime members of Northern Plains, we read with interest the commentary by Mike Caskey with Fidelity Exploration and Production Company (FEPCO) lamenting the "unreasonable" standards for methane extraction called for by Northern Plains. According to Caskey, the bar is too high for the industry to reach.

FEPCO could learn a thing or two from SMC and its officers. SMC stepped up to the plate and partnered with us to hammer out an agreement that protects our community while encouraging responsible development. The Agreement goes beyond state and federal requirements and encourages creative problem solving to protect our water and communities.

This year, as we celebrate five years of successful partnership with SMC, it 's instructive to compare its performance to that of FEPCO:

- SMC removes more than 90% of nitrogen from wastewater and is working to reach 100%. FEPCO discharges untreated wastewater with sodium concentrations 50 times that of freshwater into waterways and onto productive land.

- SMC works with Northern Plains to test technologies that reduce mine waste. FEPCO has rejected outright best available technologies, including the most common oil and gas water management method

nationwide: reinjection.

- SMC's bond - a damage deposit - is $26.9 million; FEPCO's bond, which covers 450 wells in Montana and thousands of federal wells in other states - is $350,000. Conservatively, FEPCO's bond is $6 million short of liability faced by Montana taxpayers should the company go bankrupt.

- SMC has never received a citation for violating an environmental statute; FEPCO has received numerous citations in Montana and Wyoming for violating water quality protections over the last five years.

Northern Plains landowners have sat across the table from FEPCO officials on many occasions to try to reach agreement. Unfortunately, FEPCO has been unwilling to partner with us. Instead, they are attempting to pit neighbor against neighbor by characterizing any call for responsible practices as unreasonable and referring to us as anti-development.

Coal bed methane extraction can enhance rural ranching economies if it is done responsibly. But we will continue to stand up to the industry if they don't look out for their neighbors' ranching interests. FEPCO has ample means to prevent widespread draining of aquifers and damages to farm and ranch land. But rather than working with neighboring landowners, FEPCO has launched a smear campaign to discredit local citizens who ask for more responsible drilling practices.

Ranchers next door and landowners downstream have legitmate business interests at stake. If FEPCO hopes to operate successfully in Montana, they need to become a "good neighbor."

Paul Hawks

Past Chair, Northern Plains Resource Council

PO Box 244

Melville, Montana 59055-0244

406.537.4452