The agriculture–energy–environment nexus in the West

Excerpt

The nexus of the agriculture–energy production–environment triad occurs nowhere in the United States more acutely than on the high plains of Montana and Wyoming. The Tongue River basin (TRB) of Wyoming and Montana has over 27,242 ha (67,317 acres) of irrigated land which has supported cattle ranching and farming operations for more than 120 years. The Tongue River lies over the axis of the coal-rich Powder River geologic basin which has experienced coal bed natural gas (CBNG) development since 1999, along with surface coal mining since 1972. The Tongue River is a principal tributary of the Yellowstone River, with its headwaters in the Bighorn Mountains of northern Wyoming and its confluence with the Yellowstone River in southeastern Montana.

IRRIGATORS' CONCERNS Approximately 3,358 CBNG wells were operating in the TRB at the end of 2008, 73% of which are in Wyoming (figure 1) (WOGCC 2009). Production of CBNG requires pumping of water to depressurize coal aquifers and release the adsorbed gas. The quantity of CBNG-produced water within the TRB averaged about 18 m³ day^-1 (3.3 gal min^-1) per CBNG well during 2008, for a total of 0.708 m³ s^-1 (25 ft³ sec^-1) of produced water, roughly 6% of…