RAWLINS - Plans for drilling coal-bed methane wells in the area around Seminoe Reservoir received support from industry and conservationists at a public meeting here this week.

Dudley & Associates, which holds the majority of the mineral leases in the area proposed for development, called a Bureau of Land Management analysis of the project a "clearly written and thorough document" in comments read into the public record at a Thursday night hearing.

Erik Molvar of Biodiversity Conservation Alliance agreed, saying the draft environmental impact statement for the Seminoe Road project is "more substantial and thorough" than most of the documents his association reviews, although he said it does have weaknesses.

The Seminoe Road project proposes drilling up to 1,240 coal-bed methane wells, with one on every 160 acres in the 137,000-acre area located primarily west and south of Seminoe Reservoir. The primary construction and drilling would occur over 10 years primarily on federal land managed by the BLM and private ranch lands.

The BLM draft document outlines four alternatives, including one that allows no action and three that allow the project but deal with disposal of water generated by the drilling in different ways. The preferred alternative would discharge the produced water directly into the North Platte River, while the other two alternatives either reinject the water below the surface or dispose of it by discharging it into other streams and drainages.

Development plans call for the project to begin this year, with the peak development - and therefore peak water production - from January 2009 until January 2013. During peak production, about 40 acre-feet of water per day would be produced. An acre-foot is the amount of water needed to cover an acre of land at a depth of one foot.

Dudley & Associates has conducted a pilot project in the area since 2001 to determine feasibility of full field development.

About 40 people attended Thursday night's hearing, with official comments made by eight people.

The Dudley statement made Thursday noted that the pilot project has gathered environmental data to help better understand the effects of development in the region, with particular emphasis on water quality issues.

The amount of water added to the system will be "dwarfed" by the annual evaporation from Seminoe Reservoir, the company statement said.

The company does not anticipate any effect on fisheries or increased salinity as a result of water discharge. Doug Schmidt, who has worked for Dudley on the water quality and environmental studies, said he walks ditches in the region weekly monitoring plant life and erosion. Using photographs to document changes, he said there have been few impacts from erosion as a result of coal-bed methane water discharge.

Molvar disagreed with some company claims regarding water quality and potential effects on fish, and said while the draft is "more substantial and thorough" than most of the documents his group reviews, it has one glaring weakness.

The evaluation of water quality appears to be based on average flows through Seminoe Reservoir, but Molvar pointed out there are actually heavy flows during spring runoff and low flows at many other times of the year. Most of the year, he said, the drainage in Seminoe is "far less than normal flows, and that is not taken into account" in the document.

He said the project wastewater also would be subject to the reservoir's thermocline, where the reservoir pool actually has two separate pools of water, one colder than the other, which would prohibit mixing of the wastewater from the Seminoe project.

Gov. Dave Freudenthal has expressed concern about plans to discharge the wastewater into Seminoe Reservoir.

The water discharged from the methane wells tends to be relatively high in salinity.

As they have done for other energy development projects in the area, Carbon County officials supported the project. Harry Lovato, speaking for the Carbon County Economic Development Corp. and the Rawlins Chamber of Commerce, said the BLM had put together "a good proposal." He said the project's economic impact will benefit the county because it calls for long-term development.

Carbon County Road and Bridge Supervisor Bill Nation delivered a statement in behalf of the Carbon County commissioners. "They encourage conscientious economic development in Carbon County," Nation said.

Other speakers supported phased development in the area and expressed concern about potential for groundwater contamination.