News Release
February  29, 2008

UW plans coal-bed methane issue workshops in Sheridan, Rawlins

Two workshops are being held for landowners and interested persons in areas of coal-bed methane (CBM) development this March in Sheridan and Rawlins.

Organized by the University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Service (UW CES), the Sheridan workshop is 1-5 p.m. Friday, March 7, at Sheridan College’s Joe and Arlene Watt Agriculture Center in room 131 and 132. The event in Rawlins is 1-5 p.m. Friday, March 28, in the Carbon Building. Details of the Rawlins workshop will be released as they become available.

Sheridan topics include the Land and Water Inventory Guide (LWIG), soil and vegetation monitoring, watershed approach to permitting for CBM water discharge, legal issues, extension resources for landowners, an explanation of the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) watershed permitting approach and a panel discussion. The 77-page LWIG provides guidelines for understanding and monitoring soil and water issues of concern in areas of CBM development. The LWIG will be provided to those attending.

Ginger Paige, UW CES water resources specialist and assistant professor in the UW College of Agriculture’s Department of Renewable Resources, and Jeff Soltis, a graduate student in the department, organized the workshop and will also present the topics.

 “The workshop is intended to cover several key topics of interest to landowners, and it is being held because participants in a stakeholder survey completed last year expressed interest in gaining more knowledge in these areas,” said Soltis, who is researching stakeholder participation in watershed permitting in northeastern Wyoming’s Powder River Basin.

Panelists include Jennifer Zygmunt, CBM permit writer, watershed-based permitting with DEQ, and attorney Tom Toner of Yonkee & Toner, Attorneys at Law, Sheridan. Zygmunt and Toner will also be involved in the topic presentations.

For more information, contact Paige at (307) 766-2200 or gpaige@uwyo.edu.

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Contact: Steven L. Miller, Senior Editor
Phone: (307) 766-6342
E-mail: slmiller@uwyo.edu
Archived News Site http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/UWAG/news.asp

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