[THE BEARD COMPANY LOGO]                                  NEWS RELEASE

THE BEARD COMPANY                                 Herb Mee, Jr., President
Enterprise Plaza, Suite 320
5600 North May Avenue
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73112
(405) 842-2333 OTCBB: BRCO

                                THE BEARD COMPANY
                  FILES SUIT TO TERMINATE BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP
                                      WITH
                             AMERICAN BIO TECH, INC.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  Friday, December 20, 2002

     Oklahoma City, Oklahoma --- The Beard Company  (OTCBB:BRCO) today announced
that it has filed a suit in the U.S.  District Court for the Western District of
Oklahoma to terminate its business  relationship  with  American Bio Tech,  Inc.
("ABT").

     In December of 2000,  the Company and ABT formed a joint venture to market,
design and  construct  plants  utilizing  the ABT  composting  technology in the
Peoples  Republic  of China.  In February of 2001 the Company and ABT formed ABT
Beard,  LLC (the  "LLC")  to  replace  the joint  venture  and  entered  into an
operating  agreement governing the management and operation of the LLC in May of
2001.

     Herb Mee, Jr., President of the Company,  stated:  "Some 3-1/2 months ago a
controversy  arose between the Company and ABT concerning their legal rights and
relationships.   Since  then  the  parties  have  had  lengthy  discussions  and
negotiations in an attempt to resolve their differences and arrive at a mutually
agreeable solution.  However,  the relationship  between ABT and the Company has
deteriorated  to such an extent that it is no longer  feasible or practicable to
carry on the LLC's business."

     "Termination of the LLC is expected to result in an impairment provision to
the Company's balance sheet of more than $700,000.  The final amount will depend
upon the Company's  success in  recovering  loans made by the Company to the LLC
during the past two years," Mee continued.

     "We sincerely regret that this action has become necessary," Mee concluded.
"The Company has a substantial  investment of both time and money in China,  and
intends to move forward with its efforts to build  composting  facilities  there
utilizing other available composting technologies."

     The Beard Company's  common stock is traded on the OTC Bulletin Board under
the  symbol:  BRCO.  Its  operations  consist  principally  of coal  reclamation
activities,  carbon dioxide (CO2) gas production, the construction of composting
plants in China,  and its e-commerce  activities  related to the  development of
starpay(TM)'s patent-pending payment system for use on the Internet.

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