How has extracting methane gas from coal beds changed in the last 25 years?
CBM is a component of the coal itself. It is found in actual underground seams of coal as well as in the rooms and passageways of coal mines that have been mined out. Due to the development of appropriate technologies, the actual recovery of this gas as an industry began primarily in the western states and has more recently emerged as a significant industry in the coalfields of the Midwest and the eastern United States. Of course, this coincides with the increasing demands for natural gas and the fact that natural gas is considered to be ‘greener.’ How much methane gas is used today as an energy source? I think it’s safe to say that today more than 10 percent of the natural gas produced is methane gas. While there are other sources of methane gas, a substantial portion of that percentage is CBM gas. What are some of the legal issues involved in extracting methane gas? One of the initial and most important issues in extracting CBM has been the ownership of the gas. That is, who has the
