Ask any farmer or rancher and they will tell you that land without water is of little value. Water is a primal life force for sustainable agriculture, healthy livestock and human beings.

Water also is an important resource for Fidelity Exploration & Production, and is one the company takes great care to manage responsibly. Fidelity and other oil and natural gas producing companies use water in the conventional production of oil and natural gas. In the drilling process, water helps control underground pressure and brings drill cuttings to the surface through the well bore.

In some cases, ground water is brought to the surface in conjunction with the oil or natural gas production. The quality of the water in these instances varies greatly from location to location. When low-quality water is produced, it’s generally injected back into the ground (if geologic conditions allow for a location) or disposed of using other means. When the water is high-quality, it doesn’t make sense to waste it.

This is the case in Fidelity’s coalbed natural gas development. Naturally occurring water in the coal seams creates pressure that traps the natural gas. To extract the gas from the seams, producers lower the pressure by pumping out a portion of the water. In Fidelity’s case in its operations near Decker, Montana, that water is high-quality and useful.

Managing this water is key for Fidelity. In addition to a sophisticated system of holding ponds, irrigation, water treatment and permitted discharges into the Tongue River, Fidelity also makes the water available to several area ranchers who use it for their livestock. A nearby coal mine also uses some of the water in its operations, such as dust abatement. In recent drought years, this water has been welcomed.

There is no one single water-management method that works for all situations. Each management solution is based on the circumstances at each well site combined with a myriad of state and federal regulations.

In recent years, the most contentious of the management methods has been Fidelity’s water discharges into the Tongue River.  Some downstream irrigators, largely spurred on by a local environmental group, have been fighting Fidelity’s right to discharge into the river, saying the practice taints the river water which is used for irrigation.

In order to determine any impacts, the Agronomic Monitoring and Protection Program (AMPP) was commissioned by Fidelity Exploration and Production Company in 2003. Since November 2006, AMPP has been supported by the Montana Department of Natural Resources’ Board of Oil and Gas Conservation.

The program was designed by Neil Fehringer, Certified Professional Agronomist; Kevin Harvey, Certified Professional Soil Scientist; and, Dr. Bill Schafer, Soil Scientist.  During summer and fall of 2003, landowners who irrigated a minimum of 32 ha (80 acres) with Tongue River water were invited to become cooperators in the program. All landowners in the program participate on a voluntary basis and specific locations of sampled fields are confidential at the request of landowners.

The purpose of this program is three-fold:

Measure and create baseline soil characteristics.

• In subsequent annual monitoring events, identify potential changes in soil chemical and physical properties related to CBNG development that could impair future crop yields.

• Monitor crop yields and mineral content of forages produced, including sodium. Subsequent annual soil sampling will also help identify and manage any soil chemical trends related to CBNG development that could impair future crop yields.

According to the scientists that have been conducting the study over the past seven years, there have been no adverse changes in soil or crop properties that can be related to the discharge of water from coalbed natural gas production.

Sidebar:

Salty water?  Claims exaggerated…

Newspaper references to the water discharged from Fidelity’s Montana-based coalbed natural gas operations have typically characterized it as “salty.” While the water registers slightly above the technical definition of “freshwater,” it is a long way from “salty.”  Here are the facts:

Freshwater, as defined by the United States Geological Survey, contains fewer than 1,000 milligrams per liter of Total Dissolved Solids (mg/L of TDS). The water produced at Fidelity’s Montana project contains about 1,500 mg/L of TDS. According to USGS parameters, moderately saline water ranges from 3,000 to 10,000 mg/L of TDS; highly saline water ranges from 10,000 to 35,000 mg/L of TDS; and seawater averages about 35,000 mg/L of TDS.

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