Our view

Wyoming officials should encourage coal-bed methane producers to follow Anadarko's lead on dealing with wastewater problems.

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No matter how hard Wyoming officials try to protect coal-bed methane producers, conflicts with Montana over environmental regulations appear headed to the federal courts.

But maybe it doesn't have to come to that. One major company, Anadarko, decided on its own to spend more than $50 million on a solution to wastewater problems that could satisfy both states if duplicated by others.

Gov. Dave Freudenthal has consistently backed the industry. Wyoming's congressional delegation entered the fray this week, with a letter urging Montana lawmakers and regulators to back off demands that the wastewater from coal-bed methane production either be reinjected into the ground or treated to remove salts and other minerals.

Supporting Wyoming industry is good. But our elected officials might better serve their constituents - especially the ranchers and conservationists in the Powder River Basin - by encouraging the industry to follow Anadarko's example.

The plea from Sens. Craig Thomas and Mike Enzi and Rep. Barbara Cubin didn't budge Montana from its insistence that the water flowing into its rivers and streams from Wyoming be clean. The response was openly scornful, such as this riposte from Mark Fix, chairman of the Northern Plains Resource Council: "We do not need a permission slip from Wyoming politicians to protect our own water."

Montana's position has some merit, though Fix has things backward: It's Montana that is trying to exert authority over Wyoming, not the other way around. Still, if the situation were reversed and another state were sending us polluted water, we would expect our leaders to protest.

It's difficult to predict whether Wyoming or Montana would win a legal battle. Wyoming's delegation contends Montana's attempt to restrict our state's CBM exploration and development may be unconstitutional, because only the federal government can regulate interstate commerce.

Economically, it may make sense for Wyoming to stall and let the issue be dragged through the court system. A few million dollars in legal fees would be a small expense to keep Wyoming's CBM industry alive and paying severance taxes.

But money is not the sole issue. We have an ethical responsibility to protect the environment. Anadarko should be lauded for planning a 48-mile pipeline from eastern Johnson County to its property near Midwest. The pipeline is expected to carry as much as 400,000 barrels of coal-bed methane water daily to the Salt Creek Field area, where it will be reinjected into the Madison aquifer.

Costly? Yes. But Anadarko wouldn't make the investment if it didn't think it was worthwhile.

In addition to helping the environment and conserving water, a company spokesman noted Anadarko's project allows it to focus less on its water problem and more on producing gas and making money.

That's an effort Wyoming officials should get behind.