Green River Star -

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 could not give an OK on a proposed plant closure...