Green River is set to receive economic assistance as a result of ongoing plans for trona development in Southwest Wyoming. The city, along with the county and other communities in the area, is working on the process to receive impact assistance connected to the Dry Creek Trona project.
During last week's Green River City Council meeting, City Administrator Reed Clevenger gave an update on the City's involvement with the Dry Creek Trona project after meeting with officials from Rock Springs, Sweetwater, Lincoln, and Uinta Counties. He explained that the City of Green River is sending a letter to the Department of Environmental Quality to become a participant in the Pacific Soda Ash LLC Dry Creek Trona project.
Pacific Soda Ash plans to use solution mining techniques to refine trona and use it to produce soda ash at processing facilities. The Dry Creek Trona project will include two locations in Sweetwater County. One location will be the solution mining operation, while the other will be a processing and refining location. One of the primary locations will be found approximately 20 miles southwest of Green River, while the second primary location will be approximately eight miles west of Green River. There are several other secondary locations throughout the area including near Kemmerer. Those locations will encompass a combination of private, state, and public Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands.
Due to the locations of this project, the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality has named Green River, Rock Springs, and several other communities throughout Sweetwater, Lincoln, and Uinta Counties as "primarily affected" areas to be included in a memorandum of understanding. Once the MOU is established and approved by the council, it paves the way for the City of Green River to receive impact assistance funds. If approved, the City of Green River is set to receive $9,440,999.50, while Sweetwater County is set to receive a total of $28,919,340.60 as a whole. This is approximately 83% of the total amount to be distributed throughout the three counties.
Clevenger said that "approving this MOU will make it possible for the city to apply for Impact Assistance Funds."
Clevenger also noted that he was pleased with the outcome of the joint meeting between all involved entities, emphasizing how smooth and productive the meeting was.
"The meeting went exceptionally well," he said. "We had to cover information from a 1900-page document, and everyone involved worked together to agree on a path forward in terms of the MOU process."
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