U.S. Geological Survey Open File #01-235
U.S. Geological Survey Coalbed Methane Field Conference, May 9-10, 2001

Compiled by
Kenneth Takahashi
2001

USGS Energy Resources Team
Box 25046, MS939
Denver Federal Center
Denver, CO 80225-0046

U.S. Department of the Interior
Gayle Norton, Secretary

U.S. Geological Survey
Charles G. Groat, Director

Available from:
USGS Information Services
Box 25286, Building 810
Denver Federal Center
Denver, CO 80225

Call: (303) 202-4200
For more information about coalbed methane please contact:
Dr. Romeo Flores
rflores@usgs.gov
(303)-236-7774
U.S. Geological Survey
P.O. Box 25046, MS939
Denver Federal Center
Denver, CO 80225

For more information on this CD-ROM, please contact:
Ken Takahashi
kt@usgs.gov
phone: 303-236-5782
Box 25046, MS 939 
Denver Federal Center,
Denver, CO   80225-0046

I.   INTRODUCTION
Coalbed methane (CBM) development from the Paleocene Fort Union Formation coal 
beds in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming has been rapidly expanding since 1993.  
During the past ten years the number of CBM producing wells rose to about 4,000 
wells as of October, 2000.  About 3,500 of these wells were completed since 
1998.  About 14 percent of these CBM wells are on Federal lands while the 
majority are on State and private lands.  More than 50 percent of the lands in 
the Powder River Basin contain mineral rights owned by the Federal government.  
CBM development impacts include drilling, facilities, gas gathering systems 
(e.g., pipeline networks), access roads, and withdrawal and disposal of co-
produced water from CBM wells.

The USGS Coalbed Methane Field Conference, held May 9-10, 2001, in Casper, 
Wyoming, was designed to inform Federal, state, and local decision makers about 
the nature and extent of coalbed methane, its characteristics as a commodity, 
the nature of its development in Wyoming and Montana, and its observed impact on 
land, water, biota, and air. Topics included what it is, how it forms, where it 
occurs, how it is developed, and consequences of development. 

This publication is a CD-ROM containing photos, videos, and slides from talks at 
the USGS Coalbed Methane Field Conference, held May 9-10, 2001, in Casper, 
Wyoming. It also includes Open File Report 01-126, "A field conference on 
impacts of coalbed methane development in the Powder River Basin, Wyoming". 
These materials are in Portable Document Format (PDF) files which require Adobe 
Acrobat and Apple Quicktime for viewing. Both the Quicktime and Acrobat software 
run on Macintosh and PC systems, and are available free of charge from Apple 
(www.apple.com) and Adobe (www.adobe.com). Installer software for Adobe Acrobat 
is included on this CD-ROM.

II.  DISCLAIMERS
This Compact Disc-Read Only Memory(CD-ROM) publication was prepared by an agency 
of the United States Government.  Neither the United States Government nor any 
agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, expressed or 
implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, 
completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process 
disclosed in this report, or represents that its use would not infringe 
privately owned rights.  Reference therein to any specific commercial product, 
process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does 
not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring 
by the United States Government or any agency thereof.

Although all data and software published on this CD-ROM have been used by the 
USGS, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by the USGS as to the accuracy 
of the data and related materials and (or) the functioning of the software.  The 
act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no 
responsibility is assumed by the USGS in the use of this data, software, or 
related materials.

III.  SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
In addition to the system requirements discussed below, these PDF files require 
Apple Quicktime software to operate properly. This software is usually included 
in Macintosh systems. For Macintosh, Windows95 or Windows NT, the Quicktime 
software can be installed with the appropriate QuickTime Installer that can be obtained from Apple, Inc. at their website, www.apple.com. 

A. Macintosh computer (Macintosh II series with 68020 or greater processor, 
including all Power Macintosh computers), with  MacOS 7.1.2 or later.
1.	4.5 MB application RAM, 6.5 MB recommended.
2.	8 MB of hard disk space.


B. Intel personal computer (486 minimum, Pentium or Pentium Pro recommended), 
with Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 with Service 
Pack 3 or later.
1.	8 MB application RAM minimum, 16 MB recommended.
2.	10 MB hard disk space

IV. INSTRUCTIONS AND DOCUMENTATION FOR OPEN FILE REPORT 01-235
A.	To get started:
Use of this CD-ROM requires the installation of Adobe Acrobat Reader and Apple 
QuickTime.  Both of these packages are available for download free of charge 
from Adobe Inc. (www.adobe.com) and Apple Inc. (www.apple.com). Help files and 
on-line manuals describe the software in detail; however, the following sections 
will help you get started.

1. Install Adobe Acrobat Reader on your hard drive if not already installed. 
Refer to the read me and text files supplied with the Acrobat reader software 
for specific installation instructions.

2. Launch Acrobat Reader and open the CBMmeet.pdf file on the CD-ROM.

3. Hints for using Adobe Acrobat
The Acrobat toolbar is located along the top of the Acrobat screen. Most of the 
icons in the tool bar are self-explanatory. The arrow icons move one page at a 
time. The bar-arrow icons go to the first or last page in the file. The double-
arrow icon allows the user to go back and retrace previous views.
Clicking on the red text links to other relevant pages or portions of pages or 
maps. The cursor changes to a pointing finger when it passes over links. For 
example, the hand cursor changes to a pointing finger, which indicates that it 
is over a link.

The PDF files contain several buttons to facilitate navigation within and 
between files. The left and right pointing red triangles advance the reader to 
previous and next page in the PDF file. The "Go Back" button, the left pointing 
arrow in the tool bar, should be used to return to the previous view.  This is 
especially useful for returning from references in the text. Several clicks on 
"Go Back" button may be required since each panning or magnification change is 
considered a view by the Acrobat Reader software. The magnifying glass button 
can be accessed in the tool bar at the top of the screen to zoom in or out. The 
"Thumbnail" icons on the left side of the screen can be clicked on to jump 
directly to that page. The page that is currently displayed will be highlighted. 
A box on the "Thumbnail" shows which portion of the page is being displayed. 
Moving this box will display a different portion of the page. Changing the size 
of the box will also change the amount of enlargement.
The Acrobat Reader software is described in more detail in the Online Guide that 
can be accessed once you open the Acrobat application.

B.  Contents 
Files on this CD-ROM include:


CBMmeet.pdf
Acrobat_Reader_Installers
	AIX
	IRIX
	MAC_OS
	Microsoft Windows_95_98_NT
	SUN
files
	CBMtripguide.pdf
	moovs
		S1bus1.mov
		s1mineop.mov
		s1reclm.mov
		s2crwdc.mov
		s2faunac.mov
		s2gcc.mov
		s2waterc.mov
		s2wtrpplc.mov
		s3crwdc.mov
		s3drillc.mov
		s4recipc.mov
		s4trbn1c.mov
	Stop1.pdf
	Stop2.pdf
	Stop3.pdf
	Stop4.pdf
	talk slides
		Barker.pdf
		Bartos.pdf
		flores.pdf
		Joneswg.pdf
		nuccio.pdf
		rice.pdf
		stolgren.pdf

The ".pdf" files are read by Acrobat Reader software. The ".mov "files in the 
directory are QuickTime movies. Performance can be improved by copying files to 
a hard drive, however, be sure to maintain the same folder structure. The 
installer folders do not need to be copied.