Jeanie Alderson
Birney, Montana

My father and two sisters own Bones Brothers Ranch, a cow/calf ranching operation in southeast Montana. We own and pay taxes on 8,435 acres and lease grazing land on the Custer National Forest. While we own some of the mineral rights below our land, other family members and the federal government own the rest.

I knew that the federal government owned mineral rights below our ranch; however, I knew nothing about the process of federal mineral leasing. In December 2000, I called a BLM official in Miles City to find out if the minerals under our ranch had been leased for coalbed methane development. I learned that five companies and individuals had leased the federal minerals below our land. Although the BLM does not distinguish between regular oil, gas leases and coalbed methane leases, all indications pointed to our minerals being leased for coalbed methane development.

BLM never informed me they were leasing minerals under our ranch. BLM never asked for input regarding lease stipulations. I was never told about the leasing process, nor did I receive any information about the relationship between surface owners and mineral owners in regard to the development of federal minerals. We have an intimate knowledge of the landscape and could have provided information about wildlife habitat, native plants, unstable slopes, watersheds and so forth. Had we been able to be involved in the leasing process we could have provided helpful information about our ranching operation, and how leasing decisions would affect our ranch.

In the present situation, we had no input into a process that will ultimately affect our land, water, business and lives forever. It seems like common sense that landowners should have more say in what happens on their property but the simple truth is that oil and gas rights take precedence over surface rights.