Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 43
Soda ash giant WE Soda has cut 48 jobs from its southwest Wyoming trona operations, including 32 salaried management positions and 16 contract positions, the company said Monday. The move follows the trona operator's purchase of competitor Genesis Alkali on Feb. 28. "Post-acquisition, consolidations were needed for some salaried management positions to achieve efficiency, reduce redundancy and to strengthen the existing hourly workforce," WE Soda Vice President of Human Relations JoAnna DeWald...
It was a good legislative session for fossil fuel producers in Wyoming, as well as those who want to produce carbon dioxide for enhanced oil recovery. Lawmakers passed House Bill 75, "Coal severance tax rate," which reduces the severance tax rate for surface-mined coal from 6.5% to 6% - an effort that proponents hope will help coal producers weather declining markets and potentially reinvest in Wyoming mining operations. Another measure, Senate File 17, "Carbon dioxide-enhanced oil recovery...
Despite growing support for nuclear energy nationally and here in Wyoming, there are simply too many concerns to entertain the possibility of opening the state to the country's growing stockpile of spent nuclear fuel waste, some lawmakers say. House Bill 16, "Used nuclear fuel storage-amendments," touted by its backers as a tool to initiate a larger conversation, died Wednesday morning in the House Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee. In addition to being flooded with emails an...
President Donald Trump's executive orders will fast-track oil and natural gas development, erase perceived federal regulatory "burdens" for extractive industries, halt electric vehicle incentive programs and wind energy permitting, withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement on climate change and, above all, "are a win for U.S. energy and Wyoming," according to Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon. Details on exactly how the new administration will achieve these things are not clear, according to some...
Despite overwhelming evidence that human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are the main driver of a climate crisis that threatens to imperil modern life on Earth, some far-right members of the Wyoming Legislature contend it's a hoax intended to depress the state's fossil fuel-reliant economy. Rather than capitulate to out-of-state policies and market forces, the state ought to set an example and outlaw carbon reduction measures altogether - a "bold step forward to lead a balanced, science-based...
Opponents of the controversial Rail Tie wind farm in southern Albany County have sued federal regulators, hoping to halt the 149-turbine renewable energy project that would span 26,000 acres. The suit, filed Dec. 23 in the U.S. District Court of Wyoming and assigned to Chief Judge Scott W. Skavdahl, alleges the federal Western Area Power Administration - a division of the U.S. Department of Energy - failed to adequately weigh impacts on wildlife, wetlands, cultural resources and the Ames...
Wyoming’s largest electricity provider, Rocky Mountain Power, has agreed to trim a temporary rate hike for its 144,000 customers. The decision follows pressure from the Wyoming Office of Consumer Advocate and Wyoming Industrial Energy Consumers — a powerful rate-scrutinizing group that accounts for about 70% of the company’s electrical power consumption in the state. The Wyoming Public Service Commission on Monday approved a settlement agreement between the parties that finalizes an $80.6 million increase — about 7% less than Rocky Mountai...
Lawmakers are scrambling to draft a bill that would restrict what wildfire victims can claim damages for when electric utilities spark blazes. Insurance premiums for utilities are exploding due to class action lawsuits stemming from utility-caused wildfires that have resulted in death and property damage - particularly in the West. Some utilities fear they may lose insurance coverage while increasing insurance rates threaten to raise costs for electric customers and bankrupt some power...
The boxcar-housed installation, currently located in Laramie, will travel to Wyoming towns along the Interstate 80 railroad corridor. In many ways, Wyoming's heritage lies on the shoulders of immigrants who built the transcontinental rail line traversing the southern portion of Wyoming and the multiple generations of laborers who have kept it running since. That heritage, and the stories of those laborers, deserves more recognition and is worthy of celebration, Wyoming artist Conor Mullen said....
Wyoming’s county commissioners and an alliance of Casper-area residents want to support Teton County in a lawsuit over local government authority to impose zoning and safety codes on private businesses leasing land from the state. The Casper Mountain Preservation Alliance joined a group of Teton County homeowners who filed an amicus brief in a long-running lawsuit over state-sanctioned development on a school trust section in Teton County. The Wyoming County Commissioners Association also filed an amicus brief, seeking to argue on behalf of T...
The crane operator who was killed on the job earlier this month at a wind-energy construction site in remote Natrona County was driving a crane that rolled into a pond, according to a Natrona County Sheriff’s Office’s incident report obtained by WyoFile. The victim, John William Hoffpauir, Jr., 55, of Houma, Louisiana, was driving a “large dual axle crane” at about 20 miles per hour on Twenty Mile Hill Road east of Interstate 25 about 20 miles north of Casper on Aug. 5 when it “slowly veered off the roadway,” the report states. The crane “roll...
Federal agencies and the Biden administration must be more flexible and encourage technological innovations like carbon capture that can enable low-carbon energy while keeping coal and other fossil fuels in the nation's energy mix, a new report by the Western Governors' Association concludes. The association released its Decarbonizing the West report Tuesday, an initiative spearheaded by Gov. Mark Gordon, who is wrapping up his 2023-34 tenure as the organization's chairman. Among the report's...
After sparring in court over the first 10-year phase of the Regional Haze Program, state and federal regulators - along with environmental groups and industrial polluters - are preparing for battle in the next phase of the effort that is intended to gradually restore "natural visibility" at some 156 national parks and wilderness areas. Wyoming's second-round "state implementation plan" awaits approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which is expected to begin accepting public...
As home to about 38% of the planet's remaining greater sage grouse - far more than any other state or province - and the architect of key conservation measures, Wyoming has a lot to gain or lose from upcoming changes to the complex, multi-agency matrix of rules and regulations governing management of the imperiled bird and its habitat. Those stakes were top of mind Wednesday evening for Natrona County rancher Doug Cooper and others who attended a BLM information session on the agency's recently...
State utility regulators on Thursday denied a request by Rocky Mountain Power to relitigate its recently resolved request for a rate hike, commenting they were “offended” by one of the utility’s allegedly misleading arguments. The company had hoped to add two charges to its Wyoming customers’ bills, despite those increases having been tossed in December following months of intense debate. Rocky Mountain Power, Wyoming’s largest electric utility, filed an application for “rehearing” portions of two 2023 rate cases, which began with a reques...
There's a lot of hope, and maybe some hype, for commercial-scale rare earth element mining in Wyoming, which is home to one of the largest proven high-concentrated deposits in North America. That interest comes at a time of increasing demand for rare earths, which are essential components for modern technologies but are mined almost exclusively outside the U.S. If the hope becomes reality, it could mean a potential new, billion dollar mining industry for Wyoming. The Bear Lodge deposit near...
A federal appeals court has overturned an Obama-era moratorium for new coal mine leasing on public lands - an "unequivocal win" for Wyoming's coal industry, according to Gov. Mark Gordon. Yet the decision, which the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals handed down on Wednesday, likely will not result in a rush on new federal coal leases in Wyoming. The three-judge panel even noted an apparent "de facto moratorium" dictated by markets that has all but erased demand for major new federal coal tracts - a...
Wyoming leaders blame Biden administration coal policies as well as bureaucratic delays they claim are deliberate for layoffs at the Black Butte coal mine in southwest Wyoming. Nineteen miners were notified this week that they'd lose their jobs, and more layoffs could be in the works, according to reports. WyoFile was unable to confirm the information with Black Butte Coal. Gov. Mark Gordon's press secretary Michael Pearlman told WyoFile, "We don't have any concrete information, although we had...
Fear and outrage about rising electric rates have set the stage for lawmakers to go after renewable energy and possibly throw up roadblocks to future wind and solar development in the state. Rocky Mountain Power has testified and submitted data to show that volatile fossil fuel pricing - including a spike in December that boosted Wyoming's revenue outlook - is the primary driver behind its staggering 30% rate hike proposal. But some lawmakers, and many of the utility's customers, say renewables...
Rocky Mountain Power's proposal to hike electric utility rates in Wyoming by an average of 29.2%, if approved, would put households and businesses in peril and only serve to line the pockets of the company's shareholders and executives, which includes its parent company PacifiCorp's owner, billionaire Warren Buffett. That was the consensus among about two dozen people who spoke at a public comment hearing held by the Wyoming Public Service Commission Thursday in Casper. "We're going to lose a lo...
The state's top energy office has recommended two energy projects for a combined $19 million in support from a Wyoming taxpayer-funded program established to provide matching dollars for federal energy and carbon capture grants. Some $9.1 million would go to the Sweetwater Carbon Storage Hub in southwest Wyoming, and $10 million would support a "nuclear microreactor" effort to assess the manufacture and deployment of small-scale nuclear reactors in the state and beyond, according to the Wyoming...
Wyoming's largest electric utility, Rocky Mountain Power, wants to hike prices by nearly 22%, a request that's primarily driven by volatile natural gas and coal markets, according to the company. It's the largest rate increase request the regulated-monopoly utility has made in more than a decade, and it would result in an additional $16.42 per month for the average household customer, according to the company. A hearing on the matter, including an opportunity for public comment, will take place...
After 15 years of planning and permitting, construction will begin this year on the TransWest Express high-voltage transmission line - a milestone expansion of Wyoming's electric power export industry to markets in the American Southwest and one of the largest transmission upgrades to the western grid in decades. The Bureau of Land Management granted TransWest Express LLC a "notice to proceed" in April, culminating years of work and millions of dollars invested in a "vision" to bring Wyoming's...
The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded $40.5 million to the University of Wyoming to advance a "large-scale" commercial carbon storage hub in the southwest corner of the state. It's the latest show of federal support for cleaner energy projects in the state, and comes as a result of years of foundation laying in the sector. The Sweetwater Carbon Storage Hub - part of the federal CarbonSAFE Initiative - will be located near Granger, west of Green River, according to a UW official. Texas-based...
KEMMERER- When a 16-inch diameter ductile-iron municipal water pipeline failed this spring, a crew dug in for repairs. They found that the 40-year-old line was so brittle that repressuring it after patching it up created more breaks 100 yards away. The crew chased and patched leaks over several days until they ran out of repair "bands" and had to find a manufacturer to build new ones. Forty-seven homes were without potable water for days as the community pitched in with water deliveries and...
