What will be the effect on the Matsu Valley if Coal Bed Methane development
is allowed to proceed as it has already done in the lower 48? We need
only look to places like San Juan County, New Mexico. The map at right
shows the county as it appeared before the CBM industry arrived. Move
your mouse over the map to see what it looks like now.
This map was part of a presentation by Tweeti Blancett at the CBM summit in Wasilla
this fall. Ms. Blancett is a lifelong conservative Republican New Mexico rancher, whose
family homesteaded their ranch in 1889. Their ranch, like many others, was destroyed
by CBM development.
How does this compare with MatSu?
Scroll down for more...
San
Juan County is approximately 90 miles east to west, and 70 miles north
to south. This is very similar in size to the area of the MatSu Valley
in which CBM leases have been let, or are pending approval: from Chickaloon
to the Susitna River, and from the Talkeetna Mountains to Cook Inlet.
The map at right shows this area of the MatSu Valley, with current major
roads. We can get a rough idea of the potential scale of CBM infrastucture
here by overlaying the San Juan County development on the MatSu map. Since
industry representatives claim that the coal beds beneath MatSu are far
richer than those found in the lower 48, this is actually a rather conservative
approximation of the amount of CBM infrastructure we will see on our private
and public lands. Move your mouse over the map.
