I have just received my LA Forestry Assn. publication "Forests and People" magazine. It contains an opinion piece about coalbed methane production (CBM). According to the article there is quite a downside to this compared to HS wells as the spacing allowed can tie up much of the surface acreage, produce anywhere from 50 to 500 barrels of  saltwater and typical well production is 20,000-30,000 cubic ft. per day at depths of only 2500 to 3500 ft. Some say some is better than none, but this doesn't look like something I would want on my property, but since I'm leased, I may have no say so in the matter. The article goes on to say that smaller companies with less resources to work with my be the ones who pursue this. I wonder if these companies have the resources or the will to deal with environmental issues compared to the larger companies? There has already been 50,000 acres granted by the LA Commisioner of Conservation (must be some $$ involved somewhere!) for CBM production in Northeast LA allowing the operators to drill as many wells as they wish and as close together as they want. This could conceivably tie up as much as 40% of the surface area.

Anyone else heard about this?