Gary D. Stricker Joseph F. Meyer Thomas E. Doll Pierce H. Norton Robert J. Livingston M. Craig Jennings Scott Kinney Heather Mitchell Steve Dunn Romeo M. Flores 2001 <p><span>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.&nbsp; During the past ten years the number of CBM producing wells rose to about 4,000 wells as of October, 2000.&nbsp; About 3,500 of these wells were completed since 1998.&nbsp; About 13-14 percent of these CBM wells are on Federal lands while the majority are on State and private lands.&nbsp; More than 50 percent of the lands in the Powder River Basin contains mineral rights owned by the Federal government.&nbsp; CBM development on Federal lands creates impacts in the basin resulting from associated drilling, facilities, gas gathering systems (e.g., pipeline networks), access roads, and withdrawal and disposal of co-produced water from CBM wells.&nbsp; The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) assesses the land-use management and impacts of drilling CBM wells on lands where mineral rights are controlled by the Federal government.</span></p> application/pdf 10.3133/ofr01126 en U.S. Geological Survey A field conference on Impacts of coalbed methane development in the Powder River basin, Wyoming reports