By Kelly Cryderman, Calgary Herald, July 14, 2010

Fernie-area residents are taking to the streets Wednesday to protest BP’s drilling of a test coal bed methane well leading to a potentially larger project they say could ruin the natural landscape and wildlife corridor.

Derrick Penner, Vancouver Sun, June 16, 2010

VANCOUVER — Energy giant BP's Canadian subsidiary is butting into a new environmental controversy over a proposed East Kootenay coalbed methane project while its Deepwater Horizon well continues to spew oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

A photo posted on Wildsight.ca shows an access road into BP's Mist Mountain coalbed methane exploratory drilling project in early June, 2010. The site is approximately 22km northeast of Fernie, B.C., and has drawn criticism from some locals who fear that BP may not know how to drill safely in the Rockies. (Photograph by: Ryland Nelson, wildsight.ca)

News Release, Northern Plains Resource Council, April 30, 2010

State District Court Judge Jeffrey Sherlock of Helena, Mont., this week affirmed that dumping wastewater from coal bed methane development into evaporation pits violates the Montana Constitution. He said such “water impoundments” are not a beneficial use of the billions of gallons of water that are brought to the surface and dumped into pits or into rivers and streams, calling such practices “a waste of one of Montana’s natural resources.”

Robert Barron, Nanaimo Daily News, Friday, November 06, 2009

Despite hopes earlier this decade that central Vancouver Island could soon be the centre of a vibrant natural gas industry, those expectations have faded dramatically.

Mike Dawson, president of the Canadian Society for Unconventional Gas, said changing markets and new technologies over the last few years have made it difficult for energy companies to tap into the billions of cubic feet of coal bed gas, a very pure form of natural gas, in the region.

By ELIZABETH BLUEMINK, Anchorage Daily News, May 30th, 2009

DISPUTE: Both sides say they control Palmer-based drilling company.

NOTE: in the absence of recent news about coalbed methane development on Vancouver Island, we offer this update on the shenanigans with coalbed methane promoters in Alaska. You'll find other articles about Fowler Oil & Gas in early posts on this website. Whether Fowler is an anomaly, or is typical of the small operators in this speculative business, communities are well advised to ask questions, be cautious, and keep your backs to the wall.

The Palmer entrepreneur who championed a new era of coal-bed methane development in the Mat-Su is locked in a vicious battle with his business partners, who have made a bid to force him out.