May 15, 2002

 

 

Paul Beels

Bureau of Land Management

1425 Fort St.

Buffalo, WY  82834-2436

 

 

Dear Mr. Beels,

 

This letter provides comments from the Colorado-Wyoming Chapter of the American Fisheries Society on the draft environmental impact statement (EIS) addressing coalbed methane development in Wyoming.  The Colorado-Wyoming Chapter of the American Fisheries Society is an organization of professional fisheries scientists and students from agencies, universities, and the private sector in Colorado and Wyoming.  The Colorado-Wyoming chapter was formed in 1964 to promote: conservation, development and wise utilization of the states’ fisheries resources; technological advancement of all branches of fisheries science; and the professional exchange of fisheries information among its members. After reviewing the draft EIS, we have serious concerns regarding the potential impacts of coalbed methane development on Wyoming’s native fisheries and aquatic resources.

 

Our concerns with the draft EIS fall into several categories:

 

·           Failure to discuss several Wyoming sensitive fish species,

 

·           Poor discussion of threats to sensitive species,

 

·           Reliance on evaluations of acute toxicity of highly tolerant organisms to guide management decisions,

 

·           Failure to consider potential water quality impacts during low flow periods, and

 

·           Failure to consider alternatives that will protect Wyoming’s aquatic resources.

 

Sensitive Fish Species

 

The draft EIS has several shortcomings in its discussion of native and sensitive fish species. The draft EIS discusses aquatic species in very broad terms and limits discussions to Federally Listed T & E species.  While the Bureau of Land Management may not be required to fully protect species that lack federal status, the effects on these fishes should be disclosed and discussed.

The draft EIS focuses primarily on species occurring within the planning area but does not address natural history, distribution, habitat requirements or status.  A better review of sensitive species, their status, distribution, habitat requirements, and life history is needed to provide a more meaningful analysis of potential impacts.  In Wyoming, the Powder River Basin supports a unique assemblage of warmwater fish.  It supports 27 species of fish, of which 20 are native to the basin.  Many of these fish are especially suited to life in swift, turbid rivers and have suffered greatly in recent years as habitats have been modified.  Six of the 25 species that the Wyoming Natural Diversity Database (WYNDD) lists as Special Concern occur in the Powder and Belle Fourche River basins, where most development is proposed.  These species of concern are assigned state rankings of NSS1 and NSS2 by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department  (WGFD), suggesting rarity, isolated populations, low densities and possible extirpation (Table 1).

 

Sensitive species in the Powder and Belle Fourche River basins include the sturgeon chub (Macrhybopsis gelida), western silvery minnow (Hybognathus argyritis), goldeye (Hiodon alosoides), and finescale dace (Phoxinus neogeus).  Other sensitive fish species include the sauger (Stizostedion canadensis), and the shovelnose sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus platyrhynchus). The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission Mitigation Policy establishes Mitigation Categories with corresponding objectives related to the amount of resource mitigation expected for a given Mitigation Category.  The Mitigation Category for the six sensitive species listed above is “Vital” and the mitigation objective is to realize no loss of habitat function.

 

Several other fish species have declined in recent years and are thus the element of concern but are not addressed in the draft EIS.  These species include the flathead chub (Platygobio gracilis), the plains minnow (Hybognathus placitus), and the lake chub (Couesius plumbeus).  They are currently classified as NSS3 by the WGFD suggesting them to be widely distributed over the native range and populations are stable although habitat is decreasing. The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission Mitigation Category for these species is “High” and the mitigation objective is no net loss of habitat function within the biological community which encompasses the project site.  Coalbed methane development needs to be managed to avoid causing further declines in these potentially sensitive species, which could result in a trend toward federal listing under the Endangered Species Act.

 

The draft EIS discusses sturgeon chub in some detail, however the current USFWS listing status is unclear. The sturgeon chub is among the most threatened fish species in Wyoming and has been assigned the state rank of NSS1 by the WGFD.  Furthermore, the Natural Heritage Program assigns the sturgeon chub the global ranking of G2, suggesting this species is globally imperiled because of extreme rarity or other factors that make it vulnerable to extinction. The Wyoming distribution of the sturgeon chub is not clear in the DEIS and should be described in more detail. The sturgeon chub appears restricted to 157 stream miles of the Powder River in Campbell, Sheridan, and Johnson counties (WGFD Stream/Lake Database).  Patton (1997) found sturgeon chubs to occur at four sites on the Powder River and one site in Crazy Woman Creek in Johnson County.  Sturgeon chubs also occur in the Big Horn River in Big Horn County where they are rare and dangerously close to extirpation.  Once believed extirpated from that drainage, recent surveys found sturgeon chubs to occur in low numbers at one site below the town of Basin, Wyoming.  No sturgeon chubs were found in approximately 50 other sites on the Big Horn River between the Worland, Wyoming and Yellowtail Reservoir (Mike Welker, WGFD, Regional Fisheries Biologist, Cody, Personal Communication).

 

 

Table 1. Native species status (NSS) of fish and amphibian species native to Wyoming.

	HABITAT DECLINING OR VULNERABLE	HABITAT STABLE		HABITAT INCREASING
RARE Populations are physically isolated and /or extremely low densities throughout historic range.  Extirpation appears possible.	NSS1   Bluehead sucker Finescale dace Flannelmouth sucker Hornyhead chub Leatherside chub Pearl dace Roundtail chub Sturgeon chub Suckermouth minnow Western Silvery minnow Wyoming toad Boreal toad	NSS2   Bonneville cutthroat Burbot Colorado River cutthroat Goldeye Kendall WS dace Orangethroat darter Plains topminnow Sauger Shovelnose sturgeon Yellowstone cutthroat
COMMON Species is widely distributed throughout its native range and population status is stable.	NSS3   Black bullhead Common shiner Flathead chub Lake chub Mountain sucker Plains minnow   Wood frog	NSS4   Bigmouth shiner Central stoneroller Channel catfish Grayling Iowa darter Longnose sucker Mottled sculpin Mountain whitefish Paiute sculpin Quillback River carpsucker Shorthead redhorse	Snake River cutthroat Stonecat   Boreal chorus frog Bullfrog Great Basin spadefoot Great Plains toad Leopard frog Plains spadefoot Spotted frog Tiger salamander Woodhouse toad	NSS5   Creek chub Redside shiner Speckled dace
EXPANDING Species is widely distributed throughout its native range and populations appear to be expanding.		NSS6   Brassy minnow Fathead minnow Plains killifish Utah chub Utah sucker		NSS7   Johnny darter Longnose dace Red shiner Sand shiner White sucker

 

The draft EIS describes the “preferred habitat” of the sturgeon chub but is greatly lacking in details, and should consider the following passages (Weitzel 2002 in print):

 

Sturgeon chubs are found in the large, shallow, turbid streams of the Missouri River drainage.  They are rarely found in tributary streams.  They require free flowing, turbid, riverine habitat with shallow gravel riffles and strong currents that prevent siltation.  The sturgeon chub is specially adapted to life in turbid rivers.  The small eyes reduce abrasion from the turbid water, keeled scales and a streamline body allow the sturgeon chub to live in strong currents, and highly developed sensory organs on the head and fins allow the sturgeon chub to detect food without the aid of sight (Hesse 1994).  Sturgeon chubs are typically found over gravel or rocks in depth of 4 to 24 inches.  Larger individuals are associated with larger substrates.  Young of the year have been observed over sand bottoms.  Sturgeon chubs prefer strong currents with velocities between 1.1 and 2.65 ft/sec (Stewart 1980).  In the Powder River, sturgeon chubs are limited to stream reaches below the confluence of Salt Creek, which is a major contributor of turbidity (Werdon 1993).  They are exclusively found in turbid water but avoid siltation.  

 

Little is known about the movements of the sturgeon chub.  Eggs and larvae are believed to disperse downstream with the drift after hatching.  Sturgeon chubs likely migrate to deeper pools as water levels decline in late summer and fall (Werdon 1993).  Turbidity makes direct observations of movement difficult.  Sturgeon chubs are spring spawners and ripe females have been taken from the Powder River in early June (Hesse1994).  Spawning occurs across a wide temperature range between 64^o and 77 ^o F (Gould 1994).  Spawning is believed to occur over gravel in riffle habitats.  Breeding males develop tubercles on the head and pectoral fins (Werdon 1993).

 

The draft EIS fails to identify threats to sturgeon chub and other native fish species. We are concerned about potential impacts to aquatic species resulting from changes in water quality and quantity caused by CBM discharges.  Sturgeon chub and other native species are highly adapted to the unique riverine habitats of the Powder River and other basins in the project area.  Discharge of CBM water may very well impact native fish populations by dramatically changing ambient conditions.  Specific habitat requirements of the sturgeon chub and other native fish species have not been studied in detail and the effects of changing water quality and discharge are simply unknown. Therefore, we feel that it is impossible to develop mitigation strategies at this time that will ensure no net loss of habitat function.  The Colorado-Wyoming Chapter of the American Fisheries Society recommends that further studies be completed concerning habitat requirements of these native fishes and potential impacts of CBM discharge water.

 

Toxicity of CBM Discharge Water

 

A serious deficiency in the discussion of alternatives is the reference to bioassay studies using cladocerans and fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) as indicators of the suitability of water produced during development of coalbed methane. These investigations were studies of acute toxicity, whereas chronic levels may have an equally devastating effect over a longer period of time.  Levels of dissolved solids resulting in chronic toxicity are unknown for most other species.  This distinction is critical because significant effects on aquatic biota occur at levels far below acute toxicity.  These effects cannot be ignored or dismissed.  Fathead minnows are likely a poor bioassay species for this purpose.  Fathead minnows are generalist in habitat preference and show remarkably high tolerance to environmental extremes, including high salinity.  Reliance on toxicity studies of fathead minnows may not protect other members of the native fish assemblage or important introduced game fish.  Fathead minnows are widely acknowledged as being highly tolerant of pollution, including salts.  Consequently, discharge stipulations based on studies of fathead minnows are unlikely to protect the numerous other species living in these waters.

 

Throughout the draft EIS, potential water quality impacts are discussed in terms of produced water volumes relative to either long-term average flow conditions or 25-year storm events.  Unfortunately, discussing water quality impacts relative to these flow parameters simply fails to capture the inherent flow variability in prairie streams and masks scenarios under which impacts to aquatic species are most likely to occur.  Because potential biological impacts of CBM produced water are lessened by dilution during high flows, and are magnified during low flow periods, it would be more informative and meaningful to focus on low flow periods rather than extreme high flow events.  We suggest that discussions of potential water quality impacts would be more useful and informative if it was re-focused on biologically significant comparisons between CBM produced water volumes and low flow conditions in receiving streams.

 

Monitoring Plan

 

The draft EIS fails to provide monitoring plans for aquatic species.  Comprehensive fish inventories and habitat data are lacking for much of the Powder River Basin.  Development of coalbed methane must be combined with requirements for monitoring which describe the potential impacts on aquatic biota, stream morphology, habitat conditions, and riparian function.  Environmental monitoring and assessment program protocols developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would be applicable in this situation.  The final EIS should require a monitoring component utilizing this methodology or a similar approach.

 

Alternatives

 

We believe that reinjection of CBM produced water offers the best protection for aquatic resources.   We support this approach as the most effective mitigation available, and believe reasonable precedents exist for using re-injection technology to avoid adverse effects from oil and gas wells on aquatic resources.  We also believe that a phased-in approach to coalbed methane development is essential, given all the unknowns about local aquatic communities, quality and quantity of discharge waters, salt toxicity, recipient stream hydrology and pattern of coalbed methane development across the basin.

 

Conclusions

 

The draft EIS needs a significant amount of revision to adequately address issues related to fisheries, water quality, and stream ecology.  Mandatory re-injection of all water produced by coalbed methane wells would alleviate many of the concerns we have about this development plan.  Much more consideration should be given to all fish species of special concern and other species that are potentially declining.  Furthermore, the unique character of the Powder River must be considered in developing management plans for coalbed methane.  A monitoring component that examines fish, invertebrates, algal associations, riparian structure and function, and stream morphology should also be required for streams likely to be impacted. Until additional studies of chronic toxicity of salts on more members of the aquatic communities are conducted, including organisms less tolerant of pollutants, stipulations regarding acceptable salt loading should be considerably more conservative.   We expect adverse effects on aquatic resources unless the discharges are re-injected or treated to meet ambient surface water quality.

 

Sincerely,

Rob Gipson                             John E. Alves

CO-WY AFS President           Environmental Policy Committee

 

Literature Cited

 

Gould, W.  1994.  The recent distribution of sturgeon chub (Macrhybopsis gelida) in Montana.  Report to the Montana Department of Fish, Game, and Parks.  Helena, Montana

 

Hesse, L.W.  1994.  The status of Nebraska fishes in the Missouri River, 5. selected chubs and minnows (Cyprinidae): sicklefin chub (Macrhybopsis meeki), sturgeon chub (M. gelida), silver chub (M. storeriana), speckled chub (M. aestivalis), flathead chub (Platygobio gracilis), plains minnnow (Hybognathus placitus), and western silvery minnow (H. argyritis).  Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences. 21:99-108.

 

Patton, T.M.  1997.  Distribution and status of fishes in the Missouri River Drainage in Wyoming:  implications for identifying conservation areas.  Dissertation for Doctorate of Philosophy.  University of Wyoming.  Laramie, Wyoming.

 

Stewart, D.  1980.  A preliminary study of the biology of the sturgeon chub (Hybopsis gelida) in the Powder River in Wyoming. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Colorado - Wyoming Chapter of the American Fisheries Society.  15:38-41.

 

Weitzel, D.L.  2002 (In print).  Conservation and Status Assessments for the Sturgeon Chub (Macrhybopsis gelida), Western Silvery Minnow (Hybognathus argyritis), and Goldeye (Hiodon alosoides):  Rare Fish Species of the Upper Missouri River Drainage, Wyoming.  Wyoming Game and Fish Department.  Laramie, Wyoming.

 

Werdon, S.J.  1993.  Status report on sturgeon chub (Macrhybopsis gelida), a candidate endangered species: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ecological Services, North Dakota State Office,  Bismark, North Dakota.