Northern Cheyenne Fight Coal-Bed Wastewater Dumping In Tongue River

[hatrack]

"One after another, members of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Tribe on Wednesday opposed a pair of proposed permits that would allow an energy company to discharge treated and untreated coalbed methane wastewater into the Tongue River.

"We need to stand firm and say, 'No, we don't want our Tongue River polluted,' '' said Carol Red Cherries, the first speaker at a public hearing that drew more than 50 people to the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Lame Deer. "I can't believe it would come to that. That's our water. That's our life,'' Red Cherries said. "I do not want the Tongue River polluted. That's our water. It's God-given.''

Most of the more than 20 people who commented were tribal members. They spoke of their close personal, cultural and spiritual connection to the river, which forms the eastern boundary of the reservation. The Tongue River and its banks are a source of fish, medicinal plants and spirits that come out after sunset, speakers said. Tribal members also talked of the tribe's efforts to establish a set of water quality standards for the Tongue and their work to protect natural resources, which include coal, clean air, and now water.

EDIT

The DEQ is proposing to issue to Fidelity Exploration and Production Co., a subsidiary of MDU Resources Inc., two discharge permits. One would be a renewal of its existing permit with revisions that would allow the company to seasonally increase discharges of untreated water. The revisions would allow Fidelity to discharge a total of 1,600 gallons per minute from 15 points between July and October, when river flows are the lowest, and up to 5,250 gallons per minute between March and June, when flows are the highest. Fidelity's current permits limits discharges to 1,600 gallons per minute year-round. The new permit would allow Fidelity to discharge up to 1,700 gallons per minute of treated water into the Tongue. Fidelity proposes to treat some of its wastewater from coalbed methane drilling to remove the salts and then blend the treated water with untreated water up to the state's standards for salt indicators before discharging the water into the river."

EDIT

http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2005/06/02/build/state/45-cbm-permits.inc