A state department has started enforcement action against a coalbed methane producer for repeatedly failing toxicity tests on water it discharges into the Tongue River.

Fidelity Exploration and Production Co. violated the toxicity provision in its discharge permit 132 times in a 2 1/2-year period, from April 2006 through August 2008. The company also failed to submit an adequate compliance plan, said John Arrigo, administrator of Montana Department of Environmental Quality's Enforcement Division.

Fidelity produces methane from coal beds in the Decker area of the Powder River Basin. Ground water pumped to the surface through the drilling for natural gas is discharged untreated into the Tongue at 15 sites covered by the permit. Fidelity is a subsidiary of MDU Resources Group Inc. and is based in Denver. Although tests are finding toxicity in the discharge water, that doesn't mean the Tongue River is being harmed, Arrigo said. "We're don't have any dead fish," Arrigo said. "If we saw dead fish or saw effects on the receiving water, we would act more aggressively. But we don't see that."

Rather, DEQ is seeing dead fleas - ceriodaphnia dubia fleas to be exact. The fleas are used in laboratory tests as an indicator of toxicity.

Fidelity is required to test for toxics by taking samples of its discharge water and putting in organisms to see if they survive. In addition to the fleas, similar tests also are conducted on fathead minnows.

Full Story: http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/11/10/news
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