Air Pollution Suit Seeks Clarity for Montana, Wyoming Parks

MISSOULA, Montana, May 21, 2004 (ENS) - A coalition of four conservation organizations has filed suit against the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) over its failure to minimize the air pollution predicted to result from oil, gas and coalbed methane development authorized in a 33 million acre zone in Montana and Wyoming.

The legal action brought by Environmental Defense, the Montana Environmental Information Center, the National Parks Conservation Association, and the National Wildlife Federation was filed Thursday in federal district court in Montana.

The groups claim the more than 100,000 oil, gas and coalbed methane wells and 23,000 miles of new roads planned for the area will "harm public health and cloak more than a dozen national parks and wilderness areas in haze." Their legal action seeks to force the Interior Department to limit air pollution with cost-effective solutions that already exist.

Pollution will affect scenic vistas at national parks and wilderness areas, the groups say, including: Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Theodore Roosevelt and Wind Cave National Parks, and the Badlands, Bridger, Fitzpatrick, Gates of the Mountain, North Absaroka, Red Rocks Lakes, Scapegoat, Teton, U.L. Bend and Washakie Wilderness areas.

The pollution will result from construction activity and heavy equipment, construction and operation of new wells, compressor stations and engines, pipelines, increased vehicle traffic, and more than 23,000 miles of new roads, the groups claim. Some of the predicted pollution impacts will be comparable to Denver's "brown cloud," they warn.

"The federal government has okayed one of the most massive oil and gas developments in American history despite the potential health impacts on people living nearby and the haze that will pollute the grand vistas of the West," said Environmental Defense attorney Vickie Patton.

Montana Environmental Information Center Program director Anne Hedges said, "The government predicts violations of public health standards, yet will do nothing to stop air pollution from coalbed methane development. The science is clear. This harmful air pollution causes asthma attacks and other serious lung disease. The federal government should not be making it dangerous to breathe the air."

"Montana's national parks are critical assets that can contribute every year to our lives and our economy if we take care of them," said Tony Jewett, senior director of National Parks Conservation Association's Northern Rockies office. "Clean air and clear visibility are essential parts of any healthy parks formula. These coal bed methane proposals take us in the wrong direction."

The air pollution from the development will violate the new federal health based standard for particulate pollution in nearby communities. The government's own analysis, which the groups claim "severely underestimates the air pollution impacts," shows that some of these protected areas will be impacted by haze on dozen or more days each year.