In the News
Wyoming Legislative Information
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In the News
CHEYENNE — Wyoming Game and Fish habitat biologist Rick Straw stands next to a caged sagebrush on state school trust land north of Laramie.
He reaches in and pulls a three-inch shoot from its lush top. He caged the plant several years ago to show what a sagebrush plant is capable of in the absence of animal grazing.
From a stumpy sagebrush just outside the cage, he pulls a shoot a half an inch long and holds them up for comparison ...
Gov warns of Wyo Range 'domino effect'
(Associated Press: Tuesday, May 1, 2007)
CHEYENNE — Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal says he "doubts the veracity" of a Texas energy company's claim that it intends to drill just three exploratory wells in the Wyoming Range.
In comments filed with the U.S. Forest Service on Monday, Freudenthal says he's concerned that allowing an initial exploratory drilling project in the Wyoming Range could be the "first domino" toward industrialization of national forest land in the state.
Freudenthal wrote to Big Piney District Ranger Greg Clark asking his agency to consider delaying a proposed drilling project because of concerns over its effect on the Wyoming Range. He commented on a document called the Plains Exploratory Draft Environmental Impact Statement ...
Gov Dave says file grizzly suits in-state
(Casper Star-Tribune: Tuesday, April 17, 2007)
CHEYENNE — The lawyer for eight environmental groups fighting to maintain federal protection for grizzly bears said he'll carefully consider the options before deciding where to file an expected lawsuit.
“I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't do that,” said Douglas Honnold, an attorney for Earthjustice in Bozeman, Mont.
Gov. Dave Freudenthal last week asked Honnold in a letter to take the “honorable action” and file the lawsuit in federal court in Wyoming, where about 90 percent of the greater Yellowstone area's estimated 500-600 bears live ...
Sportsmen unite for Wyoming Range
(Casper Star-Tribune: Thursday, January 25, 2007)
A coalition of hunter, angler and sporting organizations — 13 in all — launched a statewide effort this week to help preserve the Wyoming Range.
The group, Sportsmen for the Wyoming Range, unveiled its new Web site and billboards at a Wednesday afternoon presentation in Casper, at the Rocky Mountain Discount Sports store on CY Avenue.
The group hopes to prevent oil and gas development in the Wyoming Range. The coalition’s proposal comes down to no new leases on public lands in those mountains, and a process that would allow for leases to be retired, traded or bought out at fair market value ...
State fails conservation vote test
(Wyoming Tribune-Eagle: Thursday, October 12, 2006)
CHEYENNE — Wyoming's congressional delegation placed last among all states in making votes in favor of the environment this year, a League of Conservation Voters scorecard shows.
"If you poll Wyoming residents about what they like about living here or why they live here, quality of life, hunting, outdoor recreation, open space are consistently one of the top two or three reasons people give," said Jason Marsden, executive director of Wyoming Conservation Voters.
"(Yet) year after year on these scorecards, our congressional delegation is among the poorest performing in the nation. We feel it's a really obvious disconnect between the values the citizens hold and the values that their representatives in congress hold ..."
(see the national LCV press release)
Wolf fight goes back to court
(Associated Press: Wednesday, October 11, 2006)
CHEYENNE — Wyoming is continuing its legal fight to try to force the federal government to accept a state management plan for wolves that would include classifying them as predators that could be shot on sight in much of the state.
In a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday, the state argues that the federal government rejected the state's proposed wolf management plan because of political considerations, not because of its scientific merits.
Gov. Dave Freudenthal said Tuesday he's confident that once a judge hears arguments on the merits of the state's plan, the courts will overturn the federal government's rejection of it ...
Wildlife, natural resources top tourism priorities
(Billings
Gazette: Tuesday, October 10, 2006)
CODY — Tourism professionals and policymakers from around the state on Monday put protection of wildlife and natural resources at the top of their priority list.
The Wyoming Hospitality and Tourism Summit, which continues today, also covered issues including improving roads, work-force development, immigration reform and employee health care.
Aside from attractions within Yellowstone National Park, only Jackson ranked higher than Cody among Wyoming's most popular spots for visitors, according to a report compiled for the state ...
Candidates stress education, water development
(Casper
Star-Tribune: Sunday, October 8, 2006)
Democrat Linda Fleming, 65, of Baggs is a former mayor of her community who served 14 years as a Carbon County commissioner and is a member and past president of the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission.
William “Jeb” Steward, 53, a Republican from Encampment, has been on the Wyoming Water Development Commission since 2004, and formerly served as chairman of the S-E-R Conservation District Board of Supervisors ...
Freudenthal to Idaho: Ban game farms
(Casper
Star-Tribune: Sunday, October 8, 2006)
JACKSON — In the wake of domestic elk escaping from an Idaho game farm, Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal is asking the neighboring state to ban game farms and to help enact a communication system among the two states and Montana.
In a letter dated Thursday, Freudenthal thanked Idaho Gov. Jim Risch for the actions he took calling for a hunt on the escaped elk, and for the state notifying Wyoming.
Freudenthal said Wyoming banned game ranching 30 years ago "because of the obvious risks to wildlife and, further, to avoid situations like the one at Conant Creek from happening ..."
Judge reopens road to recreation area
(Associated Press: Friday, October 6, 2006)
District Judge Keith Kautz issued the order at the request of the state. The order requires Phase 23 LLC, a private company that recently purchased land in the area in southern Goshen County, and Horse Creek Conservation District, which sold the land, to continue to allow public access until the court hearing.
Kautz has scheduled a court hearing for Oct. 12 in Torrington on a lawsuit in which the state has requested an injunction against blocking access to the land ...
Lawmakers draft tax breaks
(Casper
Star-Tribune: Thursday, October 5, 2006)
Coal and electrical utility lobbyists helped an interim legislative committee draft legislation Wednesday that would provide a tax break for installation of pollution control equipment on refineries and power plants.
The two energy tax break proposals before the Minerals, Business and Economic Development Interim Committee are billed as "incentives for new projects/new technologies" and "continuity of existing industrial facilities."
Both would eliminate the sales and use taxes for only the purchase of pollution control equipment, then sunset in 2015 ...
Wyo has elk farm of its own
(Casper
Star-Tribune: Tuesday, October 3, 2006)
Wyoming has one game farm n the NX Bar Ranch near Sheridan, on the Montana border. According to Wyoming Game and Fish officials, it is a well-run operation that has never caused any trouble.
Commercial purposes of game farms are to raise meat, sell hunting that range from canned to fairly natural hunts, antler velvet as a natural food supplement or antlers in Far East traditional medicine ...
Company confronts climate concerns
(Casper
Star-Tribune: Wednesday, September 27, 2006)
Rio Tinto, with three large surface coal mines in Wyoming, is the only mining company in the state actively trying to reduce its emissions of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas contributing to global climate change. Globally, the international coal giant has cut CO2 emissions from its mining operations by some 9 percent since 1998, according to the company.
And it intends to go further by moving to a new fuel-efficient truck fleet at Jacobs Ranch in the next year ...
Wyo sues to toss Montana water regs
(Associated Press: Tuesday, September 12, 2006)
Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal said Monday that the Montana rules would impose a water quality standard on the Powder River, Little Powder River and Tongue River below the naturally occurring water quality of these rivers for much of any given year.
Freudenthal said the rules are "unacceptable to Wyoming and are a direct threat to Wyoming's CBM industry ..."
Wyo wardens gun for Idaho elk
(Casper
Star-Tribune: Sunday, September 10, 2006)
Following the lead of Idaho, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department has directed its employees to shoot any elk/red deer hybrids that may show up in Wyoming after they escaped recently from an eastern Idaho game farm.
The lethal removal of these animals will address potential disease and genetic hybridization concerns within Wyoming’s wild elk, said Robin Kepple, Game and Fish information officer in Casper.
Game and Fish Director Terry Cleveland said he’s deeply suspicious as to why the Idaho owner of the escaped domestic elk has historically refused to allow Idaho officials to inspect his animals for disease. Animal farms around the country have incubated such diseases as brucellosis, tuberculosis and chronic wasting disease ...
Wyo adopts cougar plan
(Casper
Star-Tribune: Friday, September 8, 2006)
The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission quickly adopted its first-ever mountain lion management plan on Thursday in Casper.
The plan was welcomed by the Wyoming Wildlife Federation, which said it should protect livestock, human safety and result in a healthy mountain lion population.
“It allows hound-pack hunting,” said Ben Lamb, a WWF representative. That style of hunting allows trophy hunters to focus on the big male cats, because their tracks are bigger than female lions, he said ...
West Nile hits grouse again
(Casper
Star-Tribune: Thursday, September 7, 2006)
GILLETTE — Prolonged hot weather is taking its toll once again on sage grouse in the Powder River Basin, where it has been confirmed that five radio-collared birds died of West Nile virus recently.
Hot weather has also contributed to significant West Nile virus mortality in sage grouse populations in California, Idaho and Oregon as well, signaling a persistent threat for the species across the West.
"We now should consider West Nile virus an endemic source of mortality (among sage grouse) that we're going to have to deal with for a long time," said David Naugle, a professor of biology at the University of Montana. "Don't plan on this going away. It's another source of mortality for sage grouse long term ..."
Interior chief cites balancing act
(Casper
Star-Tribune: Thursday, August 24, 2006)
"This is particularly important in Wyoming where you have two world-class resources, energy and wildlife," Kempthorne said in Casper during the first of a three-day visit to the state. "That's significant."
In the past five years though, he said that the Bureau of Land Management has quadrupled the number of processed permits annually for onshore drilling for oil and gas in Western states. That includes Wyoming, the nation's top onshore energy producer ...
Coal-to-liquids plan advances
(Casper
Star-Tribune: Thursday, August 17, 2006)
Medicine Bow Fuel & Power LLC recently awarded a contract to Canadian firm SNC-Lavalin to perform feasibility, engineering and design services for a $1 billion facility located in northern Carbon County ...
Wyo candidates earn praise from property-rights group
(Jackson Hole News & Guide: Wednesday, August 17, 2006)
The Landowners Association of Wyoming said House District 16 Republican candidate Kate Mead, and Senate District 17 Republican candidates Peter Moyer and Grant Larson all have a good understanding of the eminent-domain issues facing private property owners in the state, and the need to give landowners more negotiation power in eminent domain proceedings.
Jackson Hole News & Guide; 08/17/2006Wyo has aspen problems, too
(Casper
Star-Tribune: Monday, August 14, 2006)
JACKSON — In Wyoming, state forester Bill Crapser said aspen stands, like those in other Western states, are declining as well.
"It's partially because as aspen stands get older, conifers take over aspen stands," he said. "That's just the succession of the forest."
Most of the state's aspen stands are on federal lands, so Crapser said there are "limited things we can do ..."
Oil-gas to hydrogen?
(Casper
Star-Tribune: Friday, August 11, 2006)
LARAMIE — The energy school planned by the University of Wyoming must be flexible enough to deal with future changes in the state’s energy industry, members of the UW Energy Resources Council were told at their first meeting Thursday.
“Wyoming has more energy resources than just oil and gas,” said Myron Allen, UW vice president for academic affairs. “Ten or 15 years from now the array may be different.”
State Rep. Tom Lockhart, R-Casper, chairman of the House Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee, said the school “must have flexibility in the design” to be prepared “when things switch from oil and gas to hydrogen or whatever they switch to ..."
Agency moves on disease plans
(Casper
Star-Tribune: Wednesday, August 2, 2006)
JACKSON — The Wyoming Game and Fish Department's approach to eliminating brucellosis in western Wyoming elk is drawing mixed reviews.
Some say the approach is inadequate and exclusionary. Others see it as a step forward.
The plan offers a series of options to help eradicate the disease, which is a major headache for Wyoming cattle producers.
The Game and Fish Department is holding public meetings focusing on the nine options for each of the seven elk herds that use state-run feedgrounds during the winter. Options are tweaked for each herd unit based on input from livestock producers in the area ...
Montana asks Wyoming to release more water into rivers
(Associated Press: Wednesday, August 2, 2006)
HELENA — The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation is calling on Wyoming to release more water into the Tongue and Powder rivers, saying Wyoming users are taking out water "at Montana's expense."
DNRC Director Mary Sexton said the agency sent a letter to Wyoming's state engineer on July 28, asserting that Wyoming cannot store or use water to satisfy its users when Montana's water needs have not been met.
The issue stems from an ongoing disagreement between the two states over whether a water compact signed in 1950 obligates Wyoming to give priority to Montana's senior water rights holders ...
Lessons from FutureGen
(Casper
Star-Tribune: Sunday, July 30, 2006)
GILLETTE — Wyoming officials say they will meet with members of the FutureGen Alliance's site selection team in a few weeks to discuss why the proposed Campbell County site was disqualified for the U.S.-led international effort to develop a zero-emissions, coal-gasification power plant.
FutureGen Alliance considered 12 sites in seven states and narrowed the selection to four finalists on Tuesday -- two in Texas and two in Illinois. Gov. Dave Freudenthal and Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., both expressed suspicion that national political influences were at play in the decision, a charge that FutureGen Alliance CEO Mike Mudd vehemently denies ...
Wyo tries to hold its water
(Casper
Star-Tribune: Monday, July 24, 2006)
GILLETTE — There's twice as much sand as there is water between the Powder River's banks this summer, yet Wyoming environmental quality regulators remain vigilant about keeping water produced from coal-bed methane wells from reaching the flaccid Montana-bound waterway.
"Usually the (coal-bed methane) water goes into the intermittent draws, and most doesn't reach the Powder River," said John Wagner of the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality's water quality division ...
Pipeline plan draws no opposition
(Casper
Star-Tribune: Monday, July 24, 2006)
JACKSON — Based on the amount of public comment at a hearing for a proposed natural gas pipeline from Merna to Jackson, it appears everyone is in favor of the project.
Either that, or no one knew about the hearing. Not one member of the public showed up Thursday night to ask questions or give testimony about a proposed pipeline that will cross the Hoback River nine times, will snake along a highway and through some rugged terrain.
In fact, all 10 people at the hearing, in front of members of the Wyoming Public Service Commission, were representatives of Lower Valley Energy, the company proposing the 49.7-mile pipeline ...
Wyo group sides with Montana on methane water
(Casper
Star-Tribune: Friday, July 21, 2006)
GILLETTE — A group of landowners in Wyoming's Powder River Basin says state leaders refuse to help protect against harm from coal-bed methane water, so they're looking downstream to Montana for help.
"We really struggled with ourselves about whether we wanted to file suit against our own governor," said Bob LeResche, a Clearmont rancher who chairs the Powder River Basin Resource Council's board. "But we decided he couldn't be any more negative toward us."
The Powder River Basin Resource Council filed for intervenor status on Thursday, asking to join the state of Montana in a federal court case challenging that state's "non-degradation" rule that effectively directs coal-bed methane water management upstream in Wyoming ...
Advocate: Give landowners seat
(Casper
Star-Tribune: Wednesday, July 12, 2006)
In their haste to draw maps and broker power deals that would link Wyoming to electrical markets throughout the West, state energy officials so far have failed to bring private landowners to the table, according to a private property advocate.
On Tuesday, the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority released maps of strategic electrical transmission corridors in Wyoming. Laurie Goodman of the Landowners Association of Wyoming, a political action committee, noted that the maps do not depict private lands. She said the mapping was done without asking for input from the private landowners who will likely host the facilities.
"We own 47 percent of the land in this state. Our land is an integral part of how many of your projects will go forward, and we're not even treated as being a part of that," Goodman said ...
Ruling cheers foes of Wyoming Range drilling
(Associated Press: Wednesday, July 12, 2006)
CHEYENNE — The Interior Board of Land Appeals has issued a stay on oil and gas leasing on national forest land near the Wyoming Range, granting at least a temporary victory to environmentalists, Gov. Dave Freudenthal and others opposed to drilling in that area.
Environmentalists were hopeful that Monday's decision covering 1,280 acres about 30 miles west of Pinedale would set a precedent and block oil and gas development on a much larger portion of Bridger-Teton National Forest ...
Dem pushes coal study
(Casper Star-Tribune: Tuesday, July 11, 2006)
LARAMIE — The federal government, the University of Wyoming and the energy industry should immediately join forces in a pilot project to demonstrate that the state’s coal reserves can be converted into such products as diesel fuel and clean-burning gas to fuel power plants, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Dale Groutage said Monday.
Groutage, unopposed for his party’s nomination for Republican Sen. Craig Thomas’s seat, took note of the recent announcement of North Dakota-based Basin Electric Power Cooperative that it is considering taking part in development of a coal gasification plant in South Dakota instead of Wyoming ...
Landowners want eminent domain tweaked
(Casper Star-Tribune: Friday, July 7, 2006)
GILLETTE — A landowner advocacy group says private property rights — particularly for rural landowners — will diminish if lawmakers don't reform Wyoming's eminent domain laws.
Laurie Goodman, of the Landowners Association of Wyoming, said the state must act soon because the federal government is identifying energy corridors across public lands in the West, which will essentially create de facto corridors across private lands as well.
"Most landowners recognize the need to develop. What they don't get is why they, as private landowners, don't have the same rights as states and the federal government, and why they have so little negotiating power," Goodman said ...
'A magic place'
(Billings Gazette: Tuesday, June 27, 2006)
HEART MOUNTAIN — Rising 3,000 feet from the valley floor, this mountain topped by a massive slab of limestone remains a puzzle to scientists and a powerful icon to those who live in its shadow.
A sacred site to the Crow Indians, Heart Mountain is visible from miles in every direction — a beacon by which generations have navigated Wyoming's Big Horn Basin.
It is a unique place that leaves a lasting impression on those who visit, with each person in turn imparting his or her own special meaning on the mountain.
And with much of the mountaintop and surrounding property set aside as a preserve by the Wyoming chapter of The Nature Conservancy, Heart Mountain continues to build a legacy of learning and discovery for visitors ...
Park County sees fewer wolves killed
Billings Gazette: Wednesday, June 14, 2006)
CODY — Workers with area predator control programs met with Park County commissioners Tuesday to discuss new funding options and to report on their efforts managing conflicts between ranchers and wolves, as well as other animals.
According to a report by Wildlife Services covering operations in Park County between Jan. 1 and June 12, coyotes topped the list of predators affecting livestock operations, while wolves and grizzlies had a smaller impact ...
Poachers busy in energy fields
(Casper Star-Tribune: Sunday, June 11, 2006)
GREEN RIVER — Poachers are at it again in the gas-rich energy fields of southwest Wyoming.
Game and Fish Department officials are seeking the public's help to find those responsible for the killing of three antelope along one of the main roads in the Moxa Arch gas fields northwest of Granger in Sweetwater County.
"Some people just don't get it," said Green River Game Warden Duane Kerr ...
L.A. eyes Wyo wind pact
(Casper Star-Tribune: Thursday, June 8, 2006)
FPL Energy's Southwest Wyoming Wind Energy Center in Uinta County generates 144 megawatts — all of which are purchased and marketed by Portland, Ore.-based PPM Energy.
Los Angeles' city utility commission this week voted in favor of the contract, which would be the city's first long-term contract for wind power, according to Carol Tucker, spokeswoman for Los Angeles' Department of Water and Power board ...
Governor objects to oil, gas leasing
(Casper Star-Tribune: Friday, June 2, 2006)
GREEN RIVER — Joining conservationists and labor representatives, Gov. Dave Freudenthal has asked federal officials to halt Tuesday's planned oil and gas lease sale of 13 parcels in the Wyoming Range.
In a letter Thursday to federal land managers, Freudenthal said officials should also consider taking back other leases already sold in recent months in the Wyoming Range. He said concerns over oil and gas leasing in the area are growing.
Freudenthal said the area has incredible natural resources and is important to recreation and tourism opportunities for the people of Wyoming ...
Governor taps UW energy panelists
(Casper Star-Tribune: Thursday, June 1, 2006)
CHEYENNE — Gov. Dave Freudenthal announced today that he has appointed seven community and business leaders to the council charged with developing the University of Wyoming’s newly formed School of Energy Resources ...
Governor defends wolf stance
(Casper
Star-Tribune: Friday, May 26, 2006)
RIVERTON — In full-throated defense of Wyoming’s wolf management plan, Gov. Dave Freudenthal declared Thursday that wolf plans adopted by Idaho and Montana “aren’t worth a bucket of warm spit.”
The Democratic governor spoke here before Wyoming Farm Bureau members, a handful of state legislators and county commissioners at the start of a two-day wolf seminar: “Wolves, Wyoming’s Reality.” The seminar features panel discussions by landowners, outfitters, academics, state and federal biologists, lawyers and legislators. There was no representation from conservation groups that support wolves ...
Labor protests oil, gas lease
(Casper
Star-Tribune: Wednesday, May 24, 2006)
ROCK SPRINGS — Green River resident Mike Burd labors in the soda ash plants west of Green River, but on his days off, he spends most of his time hunting and fishing in the Wyoming Range in the Bridger-Teton National Forest.
Burd remembers shooting his first elk three decades ago in the Wyoming Range. And he captured the Wyoming Game and Fish Department's coveted "cutt-slam" award a while back by catching four native cutthroat trout species in the range's Piney, LaBarge, North Cottonwood and South Cottonwood creeks ...
Plan could mean lower water
(Casper
Star-Tribune: Wednesday, May 24, 2006)
CHEYENNE — The final version of a plan to manage Platte River flows for endangered species conservation hit the streets Tuesday.
But with more than 500 pages to wade through, Wyoming officials had yet to uncover exactly what impacts the final environmental impact statement will have on state irrigators, fisheries, reservoirs and recreationists ...
State needs to flex energy options, governor says
(Casper
Star-Tribune: Wednesday, May 10, 2006)
Even as acute housing shortages continue in Wyoming, the state should avoid getting into the housing business, Gov. Dave Freudenthal said Tuesday in Casper.
"I'm not into rent control," he said. "I'm not going to have state housing projects."
Which is not to say there is no role for the state government to play in addressing housing shortages. The state can help with the infrastructure -- the sewers, water lines and roads -- that underpin new housing developments.
Freudenthal said the state hasn’t allocated enough money for infrastructure. An effort to direct millions of dollars through the Wyoming Community Development Authority for such purposes died in the Legislature this spring ...
Grouse patrol
(Wyoming Tribune-Eagle: Saturday, May 8, 2006)
LARAMIE — The sky is still inky black when Bob Lanka, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department's wildlife management coordinator in Laramie, loads up and hits the road.
To see sage grouse in their spectacular springtime mating rituals, Lanka and other Game and Fish staff and wildlife biologists rise in the wee hours to make it to the leks on time.
"We've got to be there a half-hour before sunrise," Lanka says as he pulls away from the regional office at 4:45 a.m. and guides his truck onto a dark ribbon of Interstate 80 ...
Utilities back Wyo-to-California line
(Casper
Star-Tribune: Tuesday, April 18, 2006)
The Frontier Line project — first proposed a year ago by the governors of Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and California — would enable Rocky Mountain states to add thousands of new megawatts of electrical generation from vast coal and wind, solar and geothermal resources.
At a press conference here Monday, Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal said the commitment from the Western utilities now allows the project to move into the next phase of development. But he cautioned that the states need to remain involved because such a large undertaking will require continued cooperation for years to come ...
California backs Wyo coal plant bid
(Casper
Star-Tribune: Tuesday, April 18, 2006)
Governors from both states signed a memorandum of understanding on Monday afternoon.
Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal acknowledged that California and other major electrical consumers are demanding more electricity and requiring that it come from cleaner sources. However, he stressed that no entity should require that new coal-based power projects be limited to a design called integrated gasification combined cycle, or IGCC ...
Report: Clean up Western coal
(Casper
Star-Tribune: Friday, April 14, 2006)
If Wyoming doesn't develop a cleaner design for coal-based power plants, it will begin to lose coal customers and an estimated $60 million per year in taxes and royalty revenues, according to a new study released this week.
Western Resource Advocates issued a report Thursday detailing a financial analysis of a new "clean" coal market. The report argues that failure to demonstrate coal gasification and other advanced coal technologies with Western coal threatens not only the region's environmental quality, but could also lead to a loss of market share for Western coal producers, harming local economies.
"Electric utilities in the Midwest — where a lot of Wyoming coal is shipped — have announced their intention to go to (coal gasification), not using Western coal," said Bruce Driver, co-author of the report titled "Western Coal at the Crossroads" ...
Wolf litigation costs grow as dispute drags on
(Casper
Star-Tribune: Sunday, April 9, 2006)
CHEYENNE — Wyoming's wolf-management lawsuit turns 2 years old this month, and costs are mounting.
The price tag so far totals between $20,000 and $30,000, state Attorney General Pat Crank said.
It cost roughly the same amount for state lawyers to craft a separate petition that asks the federal government to lift federal protection for wolves, Crank said ...
Chasing 'FutureGen'
(Casper Star-Tribune: Sunday, April 2, 2006)
GILLETTE — State officials will ask FutureGen Industrial Alliance to locate the world's first zero-emissions coal-fueled power plant somewhere in the Powder River Basin in northeast Wyoming.
Wyoming is among nine states that recently filed "notices of intent" with the organization, expressing plans to submit formal site locations by the May 4 deadline.
FutureGen will combine several technologies, including coal gasification and carbon dioxide sequestration, which fits an effort already under way in Wyoming to use CO2 in enhanced oil recovery ...
Western opposition to coal plants could land them in Wyoming
(Casper Star-Tribune: Sunday, April 2, 2006)
Faced with growing opposition rooted in health and environmental concerns, Sempra Generation announced this week it plans to abandon a proposed $1 billion, 600-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Idaho and a $2 billion, 1,200-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Nevada.
Moving in the other direction, Wyoming recently passed legislation expanding the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority's $1 billion bonding capability to include coal-based power generation, including proven -- but not yet commercialized -- clean-coal technologies ...
Living with the Endangered Species Act
(Casper Star-Tribune: Sunday, March 26, 2006)
UW kicks off energy school effort
(Casper
Star-Tribune: Friday, March 24, 2006)
LARAMIE — Legislation establishing a School of Energy Resources at the University of Wyoming was signed by Gov. Dave Freudenthal Thursday and welcomed by UW President Tom Buchanan as both an opportunity and a challenge for the university.
At a signing ceremony in the university’s Foundation House, Freudenthal said the school was "the culmination of activity that started many years ago and came to fruition in this legislative session."
The new school is backed by a $12.1 million appropriation for its first two years, would cut across departmental lines and is expected to bring nationally and internationally known faculty members to the campus to teach courses and conduct research ...
Montana rule hits Wyo industry
(Casper
Star-Tribune: Friday, March 24, 2006)
GILLETTE — Montana dealt a potential blow to Wyoming industry on Thursday in an ongoing turf battle about how to manage water produced from coal-bed methane wells in the Powder River Basin.
The Montana Board of Environmental Review accepted a proposed rule change to block any degradation of water quality in Montana streams. The rule is aimed at cleaning up water discharges from coal-bed methane wells ...
Wyo, Arizona utility cooperate on power lines
(Associated Press: Friday, March 10, 2006)
CHEYENNE — Two large power lines would take electricity from Wyoming through Utah and into Arizona under an agreement between the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority and Arizona's largest electric company to collaborate on construction.
The memorandum of understanding, signed this week by Arizona Public Service Company, National Grid USA and the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority, is a first step toward completing the TransWest Express Project.
Arizona Public Service wants two 500,000-volt transmission lines that would feed electricity to Arizona's booming urban areas from coal-fired power plants and wind-generation fields in Wyoming ...
Environmentalists want Bush to revive roadless rule
(Associated Press: Wednesday, March 8, 2006)
JACKSON — A petition circulated by environmentalists calls on the Bush administration to reinstate a Clinton-era rule to prohibit road-building in roadless areas of national forests.
Such a ban would protect wildlife habitat and save taxpayer money by not adding to the U.S. Forest Service maintenance backlog, according to Liz Howell, director of the Wyoming Wilderness Association ...
Wyoming argues for wolf plan
(Associated Press: Tuesday, March 7, 2006)
SALT LAKE CITY — Lawyers for Wyoming and its livestock industry sought Monday to pre-empt a decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reject Wyoming's plan for managing gray wolves, in arguments before a three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The federal government argued that a 2004 letter written by the agency, objecting to Wyoming's plan, wasn't a final action that could be appealed in the courts. Wyoming countered that the Fish and Wildlife Service had all but made up its mind on a decision due within months, and that the agency's decision was unwarranted ...
Water use study gets House panel backing
(Casper
Star-Tribune: Friday, March 3, 2006)
CHEYENNE — Water, water everywhere, and what do you do with it?
That’s the question behind Senate File 93, which puts together a new task force to study uses for coal-bed methane discharge water in Wyoming.
On Thursday, the House Minerals Committee unanimously approved the measure, which has the backing of both the Petroleum Association of Wyoming and the Wyoming Outdoor Council ...
EPA collects $44,000 in penalties
(Casper
Star-Tribune: Sunday, February 5, 2006)
However, the agency withdrew its complaint against AM West Petroleum Inc., a company that the EPA had identified in May 2005 as one of the biggest potential offenders in the statewide enforcement action.
AM West was threatened with $54,900 in penalties for allegations of failure to implement various spill prevention measures for facilities in Crook County. EPA officials said last week that AM West made several corrective actions which compelled them to withdraw the complaint ...
Company: BLM drilling plan 'unfeasible'
(Casper Star-Tribune: Sunday, February 5, 2006)
Anadarko Petroleum Corp. wants to drill wells every 80 acres, and people who work in the energy industry have joined the company in speaking against the BLM plan.
“We believe that is going to render the project technically unfeasible,” Tom Clayson of Anadarko said during a public hearing here Thursday night. Anadarko officials have met with Rawlins business leaders expressing their concern about the 160-acre well spacing and BLM's phased development plans ...
The art of methane
(Associated Press: Sunday, February 5, 2006)
UCROSS — The images are stark: mazes of new, dusty roads on the open range, growing pools of pumped-out groundwater and faces of folks affected, for better or worse, by the coal-bed methane boom in Wyoming's Powder River Basin.
The photographs and satellite images are part of an unusual art exhibit recently opened in this tiny town to chronicle what organizers call "the new gold rush."
The intent of the show, sponsors and artists say, is to educate people about how the land has changed in the decade since drilling began taking off. It also is intended to encourage discussion of the future, and whether or how development should continue.
"Yeah, we've been talking about this for a good, long time now. But ... I would say a large majority of the general public is not aware of what's going on back there, in the draws, in the back parts of the country," said John Vanvig of the Powder River Basin Resource Council ...
Wyo competes for cleaner coal technologies
(Casper
Star-Tribune: Thursday, February 2, 2006)
GILLETTE — President Bush spoke bluntly about reducing the nation's dependence on oil and advancing energy efforts such as "clean" coal during his State of the Union speech on Tuesday.
But for all the talk, nobody will know until budget time whether any of the "cleaner" coal research dollars will come to Wyoming.
"Everybody is in the same position, waiting to see what will be in the budget in regard to the Energy Policy Act," said Rob Hurless, energy and telecommunications adviser to Gov. Dave Freudenthal.
Hurless heads the Wyoming Clean Coal Coalition, which is part of the governor's planning office. The coalition is working closely with the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Defense on potential coal-to-diesel projects.
But despite being the nation's largest coal supplier with the largest mining infrastructure, the Cowboy State has yet to see federal research dollars for cleaner coal technologies trickle its way ...
Wyo joins new Colorado River plan
(Casper
Star-Tribune: Thursday, February 2, 2006)
States in the basin this week made significant changes to the agreement that guides management of the massive drainage, which includes the Green River Basin in Wyoming.
The giant downstream reservoirs known as Lake Powell and Lake Mead will be more tightly managed to preserve waters that have previously been lost, Tyrrell said ...
Industry holds key
to CBM water dispute
(Casper Star-Tribune: Thursday, February 2, 2006)
No matter how hard Wyoming officials try to protect coal-bed methane producers, conflicts with Montana over environmental regulations appear headed to the federal courts.
But maybe it doesn't have to come to that. One major company, Anadarko, decided on its own to spend more than $50 million on a solution to wastewater problems that could satisfy both states if duplicated by others.
Gov. Dave Freudenthal has consistently backed the industry. Wyoming's congressional delegation entered the fray this week, with a letter urging Montana lawmakers and regulators to back off demands that the wastewater from coal-bed methane production either be reinjected into the ground or treated to remove salts and other minerals.
Supporting Wyoming industry is good. But our elected officials might better serve their constituents — especially the ranchers and conservationists in the Powder River Basin — by encouraging the industry to follow Anadarko's example ...
Trap catches first elk
(Casper
Star-Tribune: Tuesday, January 31, 2006)
BOULDER — About 130 cow elk were being held Monday night in a pen at the Muddy Creek feedground near here while experts analyzed blood samples from the animals.
Early today, elk that test positive for brucellosis are to be loaded into livestock trailers that will be locked and sealed by law enforcement officers and driven to a USDA-inspected slaughter facility in Idaho.
About 70 agency and academia representatives converged on the Muddy Creek feedground Monday to kick off a controversial pilot project intended to reduce the incidence of brucellosis in elk at the state-managed feedground. The test-and-slaughter program is a major cooperative effort among state and federal wildlife and animal health officials, and it even involved local law enforcement authorities in securing the entrance to the feedground.
Wyoming Game and Fish Department Regional Game Warden Coordinator Scott Werbelow estimated that about 300 elk were in a newly constructed elk trap when the remote