“Our vision is to supplement (with coal bed methane) as the conventional gas runs out and when local needs are met, to export the surplus to Asia,” Fowler said June 26. “We want to be able to keep costs down in the Cook Inlet basin and be able to use the technology in rural Alaska, with the spiraling cost of fuel.”

Fowler said his company wants to take care of Alaska first, and the exports second.

“We have leased 30,000 to 40,000 acres in the northern Cook Inlet basin,” he said. “We want to drill a lot of wells once the Kircher well (at the Four Corners) is up and running.”

And Fowler expects more landowners to sign up.

“I'm sure it's for the money,” he said. “There is no risk to try it and (there is a) potential reward.”

Fowler, a 1962 graduate of Palmer High School, is leasing the land for the initial well from pioneer Matanuska Valley farm families. The first coal bed methane will go into Enstar Natural Gas Co. lines for use in the area, Fowler said during an interview in his offices in downtown Palmer.

“We have a number of entities that want to buy (the gas),” he said.

While Fowler declined to identify potential buyers, he predicted that as the supply of conventional gas dwindles, it would be easy to find buyers for the coal bed methane gas.

Kathy Wells, executive director of Friends of Mat-Su in Palmer, said her organization is cautiously optimistic about Fowler's promise to drill for coal bed methane without harm to the environment, particularly the water.

“We are taking a wait and see approach before we go any further with opposition or support,” said Wells, who has met with Fowler regarding the organization's environmental concerns. “We are in the neutral category.”

Wells said Fowler's approach is in many ways different than that of Evergreen Natural Resources, which roused the wrath of Valley residents over property rights and environmental issues. Evergreen hired then-Palmer State Sen. Scott Ogan as a consultant, who sponsored legislation written by Evergreen. Ogan ultimately faced a recall election and resigned from the Legislature, citing health issues.

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough, meanwhile, passed a law requiring that methane drillers get a local permit before drilling. The current law allows only two wells on 640 contiguous acres.

Wells said one of the differences between Evergreen and Fowler is that Fowler is willing to communicate with people and to try directional drilling.

“We brought up directional drilling with Evergreen and they said it couldn't be done, that it was too expensive,” Wells said. “We hope he (Fowler) finds gas and that it can be done in a way that doesn't compromise our water, either in quality or quantity.”

Wells also said she felt Fowler, who knows a lot of the older, more established Valley families, doesn't want to cause a controversy in the community where he was raised, “but let's remember his company is based out of Las Vegas,” she added.

Fowler declined to discuss the specific finances of the coal bed methane project, or his own personal finances.

“Everything at risk here is out of our pocket,” he said. “We are not asking land owners to put up any money.”

Anyone who signs up with a lease can later decide to opt out if they want to, but those who don't will be able to get gas at heavily discounted prices, he said.

Fowler also said the borough law regarding coal bed methane exploration “is probably the most restrictive in the world... but we have dealt with it and we received the first-ever coal bed methane permit from the borough,” he said. “We are trying to create a new industry that is eco-friendly, provides clean fuel, local jobs and a new tax base for the government, and hopefully maintains or lowers gas prices.”

As Fowler sees it, coal bed methane is the purest form of natural gas that is considered a clean fuel and exists in huge quantities in coal formations that cover the entire Cook Inlet basin.

“Cook Inlet basin is one big coal field with high gas content,” he said. “It's a question of how much coal there is and how much gas you'll get at a given location.”

Fowler plans to employ in the directional drilling process a technology commonly used for de-watering CBM gas wells. It involves pumping water to the surface, separating dissolved gases, treating and re-injecting the water into a disposal well.

The patented technology used by Fowler Oil & Gas resolves potential environmental issues by not bringing the water to the surface. Instead the water is siphoned off downhole and injected into deeper formations below the coal, so no water is brought to the surface, according to the company Web site.

The vertical well bore casing is extended downward beyond the lowest production zone to a water-absorbing zone, typically a sandstone formation. The gas is mechanically separated from the water in the vertical well bore with the gas rising to the surface. The produced water is pumped down by a special pump, located in the vertical well bore, and into the lower formation, where it is absorbed, the company said.

Fowler also said when drilling down through the water table that his firm uses solid, not perforated, casing for the first 1,000 feet, to ensure that they don't disturb water being used for water wells. In addition, part of the firm's monitoring program is the periodic testing of both the quality and quantity of the water in the water table down to 1,000 feet, he said.