GILLETTE, WY - JUNE 14: (US NEWS AND WORLD REPORT AND NEWSWEEK OUT) Water pumped from drilled coal bed methane wells surfaces in a giant rubber tire to be used by grazing cattle on the open prairie on June 14, 2006 in the Powder River Basin south of Gillette, Wyoming. As the drilling reaches the top of a coal bed, normally at 1500 feet, the well will be sealed and the bed dewatered for a few months before a strong natural gas concentrate can be economically extracted and fed into a pipeline collection route. The US receives 10% of its natural gas supply from coal bed methane wells. The cattle ranchers generally own only the surface mineral rights to their land and receive land rehabilitation costs from the gas and oil companies as compensation. The federal government normally owns the mineral rights and leases the drilling and exploration rights to private oil and gas companies. (Photo by Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images)
