The Wyoming congressional delegation on Tuesday urged Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to reverse a decision to block new leases in the nation’s most prolific coal basin.
The delegation — comprised of Republican Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis and Rep. Harriet Hageman — said in a letter that the Interior Department’s move would “severely affect the people of Wyoming and the state’s economy,” while also putting “electric reliability across the country at risk.”
The department in May unveiled Bureau of Land Management plans that would overturn Trump-era decisions and effectively end new federal coal leases in the Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming.
The proposal would not end coal production in the basin because existing leases would be allowed to continue producing. Still, the move does reflect the Biden administration’s longstanding goal to wean the nation off coal.
The Wyoming Department of Health (WDH) has confirmed a case of measles in a Park County resident. The adult is fully vaccinated but had extensive exposure to measles while abroad and developed a mild illness. The individual was not hospitalized. WDH is notifying all identified individuals potentially exposed to measles in Park County. While it […]
Fleets of drones and suspected UFOs have been spotted hovering over a Wyoming power plant for more than a year, while a local sheriff’s department is still searching for clues.
Officials with the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office recorded scores of beaming, drone-like objects circling around the Red Desert and Jim Bridger Power Plant in Rock Springs over the last 13 months — though they didn’t specify how many, the Cowboy State Daily reported.
Multiple drone or suspected UFO sightings have been reported at the Jim Bridger Power Plant in Rock Springs, Wyoming. UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Sheriff John Grossnickle was one of the first to witness the spectacles, and last saw the mind-boggling formation on Dec. 12, his spokesperson Jason Mower told the outlet.
The fleets periodically congregate over the power plant in coordinated formations, Mower claimed.
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The sheriff’s office hasn’t been able to recover any of the suspected UFOs, telling the outlet they’re too high to shoot down.
The law enforcement outpost’s exhaustive efforts to get to the truth haven’t yielded any results, even after Grossnickle enlisted help from Wyoming US Rep. Harriet Hageman — who Mower claimed saw the formation during a trip to the power plant.
Hageman could not be reached for comment.
A spokesperson for the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office said that the drones typically hover too high up for them to shoot down. X/@JerzyBets
“We’ve worked with everybody. We’ve done everything we can to figure out what they are, and nobody wants to give us any answers,” Mower said, according to the outlet.
At first, spooked locals bombarded the sheriff’s office with calls about the confounding aerial formations. Now, though, Mower said that people seem to have accepted it as “the new normal.”
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Mower noted that the objects, which he interchangeably referred to as “drones” and “unidentified flying objects,” have yet to pose a danger to the public or cause any damage to the power plant itself.
John Grossnickle, the sheriff of Sweetwater County, claimed he saw the objects. LinkedIn/John Grossnickle
“It’s like this phenomenon that continues to happen, but it’s not causing any, you know, issues that we have to deal with — other than the presence of them,” he told the outlet.
The spokesperson promised the sheriff’s office would “certainly act accordingly” if the drones pose an imminent harm.
Meanwhile, Niobrara County Sheriff Randy Starkey told the Cowboy State Daily that residents of his community also reported mystery drone sightings over Lance Creek — more than 300 miles from the Jim Bridger Power Plant — starting in late October 2024 and ending in early March.
Another sheriff’s office one county over also reported similar sightings over a creek. phonlamaiphoto – stock.adobe.com
Starkey said he’s “just glad they’re gone,” according to the outlet.
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Drone sightings captured the nation’s attention last year when they were causing hysteria in sightings over New Jersey.
Just days into his second term, President Trump had to clarify that the drones were authorized by the Federal Aviation Administration to quell worries that they posed a national security threat.
Still, the public wasn’t convinced, but the mystery slowly faded as the sightings plummeted.
In October, though, an anonymous source with an unnamed military contractor told The Post that their company was responsible for the hysteria.
