Sorted by date Results 1 - 20 of 20
CASPER — A proposed bill to set aside $1.2 million for Wyoming to sue other states divesting from coal received a warm welcome from lawmakers at a committee meeting on Friday morning. The House Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee voted unanimously to advance the drafted legislation to the floor. House Bill 207 would give Wyoming’s governor and attorney general the money to challenge actions taken by other states that “impede the export of Wyoming coal or the continued operation of Wyoming’s coal-fired electric generat...
CASPER — A bill to prevent Wyoming fossil fuel plant closures cleared a legislative committee on Wednesday, despite opposition from the public, consumer advocates and several utility companies. House Bill 166 would prohibit the early retirement of coal or natural gas power plant units, unless a utility company takes additional steps to prove ceasing operations would not hurt customers or compromise reliability. In other words, the drafted legislation would create a presumption against coal and natural gas plant retirements. State regulators cou...
CASPER — Sage grouse reproduction numbers remained stable last year, according to initial data collected by Wyoming Game and Fish Department. State biologists closely monitor Wyoming’s iconic bird every year to ensure the population count stays at healthy levels. The department compiles the reproduction numbers each spring by counting chick and hen feathers left by hunters over several months in collection boxes. Sage grouse numbers have reached high enough levels to allow limited hunting of the bird. “Hunting is an important component of sa...
CASPER – Executives of a bankrupt coal firm in the Powder River Basin received over half a million dollars in bonus payments in the year leading up to the company’s bankruptcy filing, court documents reveal. Lighthouse Resources paid 11 “insiders” within the company and its subsidiaries a total of $3.3 million, including at least $702,500 in bonuses, in the 12 months before filing for bankruptcy. These insiders included a president, chief operating officer, treasurer, general manager, two secretaries and four directors. The company also re...
CASPER – Oil prices have been on the road to recovery for several months after crashing last spring in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and a global price war. But consumers could start to feel pinched when buying gas soon. Gas prices in Wyoming have climbed to $2.31 per gallon, as of Monday. The average national price of gasoline reached $2.46 per gallon this week. That’s more expensive than a week, a month and a year ago, according to an analysis by AAA. Energy analysts point to rising crude prices, slightly more travel and greater opt...
CASPER — Several Wyoming Republicans spoke out to condemn the violence unfolding in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, after a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. The interruption halted the certification of electoral votes, triggered a mass evacuation and left at least one person dead. Gov. Mark Gordon said he was “heartbroken,” calling the events at the nation’s Capitol an “assault on our democracy.” “The United States of America is resilient,” Gordon said in a statement. “It has weathered many storms because of...
CASPER — A piece of legislation tucked into the federal spending bill signed by President Donald Trump on Sunday could help speed up the development of carbon capture technologies in Wyoming and across the country. Long championed by Wyoming lawmakers, the Utilizing Significant Emissions with Innovative Technologies (USE IT) Act aims to boost carbon capture research and ease regulatory hurdles. Carbon capture involves trapping, reusing or storing carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas and pollutant emitted when fossil fuels are burned. The act a...
CASPER – In a highly anticipated decision, the Bureau of Land Management approved a massive oil and gas project proposed in eastern Wyoming. The federal agency issued a final record of decision on Wednesday, allowing five energy companies to extract federal minerals within the 1.5 million acre project area. The oil and gas companies will now be able to take the next steps in their plan to drill 5,000 wells in Converse County over the next several years. The final environmental review, published in July, allowed for the construction of up to 5...
CASPER – Leaders of Wyoming’s largest trona mines have banded together to launch a public health campaign for Sweetwater County to combat the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and keep businesses open. Wyoming’s trona patch in the southwest part of the state employs upward of 2,300 workers across four mines. But the rapid spread of the virus throughout the county has complicated some operations. Back in early April, several mineral operators took steps to prevent the virus from entering the plants and mines. They required strict social dista...
CASPER — Leading environmental groups in Wyoming have come out in fierce opposition to a major pipeline project proposed for the state, over concerns the development could disrupt sensitive wildlife habitat and exacerbate climate change. If approved, the Wyoming Pipeline Corridor Initiative would formally designate about 1,100 miles of public land for future pipelines, constructed primarily to deliver carbon dioxide to oil sites. An additional 900 miles of private and state land would also be interspersed throughout the corridors. Proposed o...
CASPER — There’s a new organization in town, and it’s been making the rounds in the Wyoming Legislature’s interim committee meetings. Meet Powering Up Wyoming. The group describes itself as a grassroots organization promoting the use of an “all of the above energy strategy” to prepare the state for an uncertain economic future. The team lobbies for some relative newcomers to the energy landscape here: wind and solar energy, as well as storage technology. Last week, the organization announced it had formed an inaugural advisory board of director...
CASPER – The nation’s largest coal company published mixed results in its quarterly financial report released Monday, showing both losses and gains in its Powder River Basin coal operations as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rock energy markets. Peabody Energy reported a 39% decline in revenue between July and September due in part to lower production volumes and weaker prices for exported coal. The third quarter report painted an uncertain future for its three thermal coal operations in the Powder River Basin, the nation’s epicenter for c...
CASPER – A new rule designed to ease the number of drilling applications received by the state and level the playing field for oil and gas operators appears to be working as intended, recent data collected by the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission shows. In December, the rule change went into effect. Between January and September, the commission received 2,226 applications to drill — an over 99% decrease compared to the same period last year. Supervisor Mark Watson told lawmakers during a Joint Minerals, Business and Economic Dev...
Casper Star-Tribune Via Wyoming News Exchange CASPER — The COVID-19 pandemic and corresponding collapse in energy markets have wreaked havoc in the oil and gas sector. An estimated 76,000 direct oil and gas jobs were slashed across the U.S. from February to June, a low not witnessed since around 2006. Though oil prices have rebounded in part, thousands of energy workers remain without work. But a new report compiled by the Resources for the Future and Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy proposes a potential solution. The res...
CASPER — Over one year ago, two of the nation’s leading coal companies proposed a plan to form a joint venture and combine operations in Wyoming. The decision came as a surprise to many in the state where the companies operate five coal mines. But this spring, the federal government moved to block the venture planned by Peabody Energy Corp. and Arch Resources Inc. over concerns the move could stifle competition and hurt consumers by hiking up prices for the commodity. Now, the coal companies behind the proposal have moved to defend their joi...
CASPER — Wyoming is expected to bid on 5 million combined acres of land sometime this week after the State Loan and Investment Board authorized the treasurer’s office Monday to make a play on the Occidental Petroleum property. The language of the bid process, which was approved by the state’s top-five elected officials after eight hours of deliberations, gives Wyoming Chief Investment Officer Patrick Fleming the authority to make a formal bid on the lands, which include 1 million acres of checkerboarded surface parcels in southern Wyomi...
CASPER – Changes made to a federal lending program last week could open up loans to Wyoming oil and gas firms left reeling from volatile oil prices and low fuel demand during the pandemic. The Federal Reserve released new guidelines Thursday for its Main Street Lending Program, geared to provide an additional layer of financial relief to small to midsize companies, including some heavily indebted firms with low credit ratings, during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Wyoming’s oil and natural gas industry is overwhelmingly comprised of small and midsi...
CASPER — Energy companies operating in Wyoming ramped up their response to the spread of the coronavirus, or COVID-19, on Monday, with some firms imposing self-quarantine protocols and travel restrictions. As the pandemic grows, the state’s leading industry is attempting to keep workers safe while also weathering stormy energy markets and keeping up production. As schools and businesses announced plans to close statewide, several coal firm executives joined a conference call Monday morning to discuss various steps the state’s coal mines could...
CASPER — Renewable energy’s standing in the nation’s electricity sector may eclipse coal’s as soon as next year. Led by solar and wind, renewable generation could produce as much as 21.6% of the nation’s electricity by 2021 — beating out coal at 20.8%, according to new projections published last month by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. In the meantime, coal consumption will decrease another 11% this year, the federal data agency predicted. “That’s not a surprise,” University of Wyoming economist Rob Godby said in response to the d...
CASPER — The new owner of three Powder River Basin coal mines says it has established an agreement with the U.S. Interior Department to pay overdue mineral production taxes back to the federal government in installments, according to a statement from the company in response to a Star-Tribune article published last week. Navajo Transitional Energy Company assumed ownership of the Antelope and Cordero Rojo mines in Wyoming and the Spring Creek mine in Montana from bankrupt coal firm Cloud Peak Energy last year. As part of the sale agreement, N...
