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CASPER, Wyo. - Some coal-bed methane industry consultants are taking issue with a new study about drilling's effects on sage grouse in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming.

The study released recently by University of Montana professor Dave Naugle and other researchers says that sage grouse populations dropped by 86 percent from 2000 to 2005 in areas where there was coal-bed methane activity. Grouse populations outside those areas dropped by 35 percent.

Naugle determined that sage grouse leks within development areas are predicted to disappear, on average, within four years of coal-bed methane development.

Gene George, of Gene George & Associates, said several oil and gas companies have paid for studies for more than a year to analyze the Wyoming Game and Fish Department's grouse count database and the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission's database of drilling information.

"We hired someone to confirm his answers, and we can't confirm them," George said. "We didn't generate that data. It is based on the Game and Fish's own database, not industry's database."

Renee Taylor, of Taylor Environmental Consulting in Casper, said she hadn't yet read Naugle's final work. However, her own work during the past year disputes his findings.

Taylor said, based on her analysis of the state's databases, she cannot figure out how Naugle came up with an 86 percent population decline in active coal-bed methane areas.

"We are maintaining populations of sage grouse within developed fields," Taylor said.

Pat Deiberts, biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Wyoming, said the agency weighs all the data it receives in considering how much development to allow in certain areas.

Deiberts said Fish and Wildlife Service officials are scheduled to hear Taylor's presentation this week.

Tom Christiansen, sage grouse coordinator for Wyoming Game and Fish Department, said land managers seem to be in agreement that whatever science they base policy on should withstand the most stringent review, and peer-reviewed work is at the top of the list.

"You look at key qualifications of the researcher, whether it's peer-reviewed or not," Christiansen said. "You have to look at the quality of the information."

Naugle's study was vetted through the peer review process. It will be published in future editions of the Journal of Wildlife Management and the Journal of Avian Diseases.

Taylor said she wants to publish her findings, too.

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