Wyoming
Federal Grant Complexity Stymies the Energy Transition in Wyoming Coal Country, New Report Finds – Inside Climate News
A report released this month by Resources for the Future found that the complexity of federal grant applications for energy transition projects hinders Wyoming coal communities’ ability to access funds that could prove critical to the transformation of local energy economies.
While the report by the Washington, D.C.-based nonpartisan, nonprofit research firm also found that local stakeholders and federal officials have been able to form productive working relationships despite political differences and varying degrees of commitment to clean energy, it found a variety of factors suppressing the state’s coal communities’ appetites for federal funding to transform their economies.
Wyoming’s coal industry has endured a turbulent decade with tax-revenue from the industry plummeting to record lows. This year has been even more difficult: In May, the Bureau of Land Management ended federal leasing for coal mining in the Powder River Basin, a geological formation spanning northeast Wyoming and southeast Montana.
On Dec. 12, Gov. Mark Gordon announced in a press release that Wyoming and Montana were suing the BLM over that decision, which he called “narrow-minded” for its focus on reducing the burning of coal for electricity to cut the planet-warming greenhouse gases without appropriately considering the “economic impacts” of that change.
The transition from fossil fuels to cleaner sources of energy is deeply unsettled in Wyoming. And the state’s coal communities’ fraught relationship with federal support for the energy transition could be further strained by political whiplash during the incoming Trump administration, which could impact federal assistance for navigating the changing energy market.
Ian Hitchcock, a consultant for Novi Strategies, a clean energy and climate consulting company, and the report’s primary author, grew up in Dubois, Wyoming, a rural town halfway between Jackson and Lander, and has been interested in the state’s energy communities for years.
Wyoming’s extractive industries, which includes coal, oil and gas, offer Wyomingites “access to a kind of income—albeit in a bit of a boom and bust cycle—that they might struggle to come up with in the absence of that industry,” Hitchcock said.
That dynamic partially explains the state’s cultural and economic affinity for fossil fuels, he continued. But it also highlights the complexity of the state’s energy economy, as Wyoming’s booming gas industry has been primarily responsible for coal’s declining market.
Now that the world is broadly shifting to clean energy, he wanted to study “those communities whose economies have been dependent on fossil fuels and, in the absence of a lot of intentional support, are going to be devastated by the implications of that transition.”
After interviewing residents of the Powder River Basin, the epicenter of Wyoming coal production, and state and federal energy officials, Hitchcock found that access to federal grants was oftentimes hamstrung by a complex, time consuming and financially demanding application process.
In Wyoming, which has the fewest residents of any state, “the county clerk or … the town treasurer might also be doing three other jobs,” Hitchcock said. That strains a municipality’s resources when it comes to filling out applications that can require dozens, sometimes hundreds of pages of paperwork and data.
Such convoluted applications, “privilege the powerful,” Hitchcock said, because those with more money and staff will have an easier time applying.
Even the most powerful state officials in Wyoming have cited burdensome application processes as a reason to forgo federal assistance. Last November, Gordon decided not to pursue federal funding to reduce greenhouse gases, both to preserve Wyoming’s “‘all-of-the-above’ energy development,” and because spending millions developing an application did not make “fiscal sense” for the state.
Wyoming’s Grant Assistance Program helps local governments, businesses and nonprofits pursue funding opportunities available to their communities, and the state’s Energy Matching Funds have, in many cases, provided money to projects receiving or pursuing federal grants.
Many of those interviewed for the report also expressed dismay that, although Wyoming produces 41 percent of the nation’s coal, federal money has so far gone primarily to coal communities experiencing more significant job losses. Wyoming, with such a small population and a still-viable coal industry, would not necessarily register as struggling under that criteria.
“There was a sense—and not entirely inaccurately, I think—that many of the federal programs that were designed to support coal communities specifically were largely created with an Appalachian context in mind,” Hitchcock said.
Local stakeholders offered a few suggestions in the report for how to fix these issues. First, they wanted to streamline the federal grant application process by standardizing application criteria across different departments or allowing federal agencies to store information like names and addresses for future applications. They also suggested that current coal production should be taken into account so that federal policy more proactively responds to communities before they experience drastic job losses.
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“One of the things that would help is if there was more of a regional aspect” to grants, said Rusty Bell, the director of Gillette College’s Office of Economic Transformation. He would like to see money allocated by region first, so communities in every coal basin are guaranteed to see some funding, he said. From there, competition for grants would be more local. “We’re all in the same boat,” he said.
There were bright spots in Hitchock’s research, too. “I found myself very pleasantly surprised and impressed by the perhaps overdue but necessary acknowledgment by local officials in Wyoming that, whether they liked it or not or agreed with it or not, the energy markets were in a period of transition, and they would need to engage in some economic energy transformation of their own to keep.”
That recognition helped the Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization, a federal initiative composed of officials from a dozen other federal agencies, form “Rapid Response” teams in counties across the country, including three in Wyoming. These teams assist places dealing with a diminishing fossil fuel economy by helping them access federal resources to maintain or revitalize their community’s quality of life. In 2022, Wyoming became the first state to test a Rapid Response, Hitchcock said.
In his report, Hitchcock called this type of government-to-citizenry engagement “promising.”
As part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, the Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization has made over half a trillion dollars available to fossil fuel energy communities.
“There may be fewer resources to play with but I suspect the work will continue.”
— Ian Hitchcock, Novi Strategies consultant
A place like Campbell County, where Bell works, wouldn’t be eligible to apply for every program that gives out that money, he said, but “just the fact that there are some opportunities out there, it is a good thing.”
Like other parts of President Biden’s energy policy, federal funding for energy transformation in coal communities may prove difficult for President-elect Donald Trump to undo. Hitchcock wouldn’t rule out Trump and congressional Republicans attempting to claw back federal funding for coal communities, but said that could prove politically difficult with much of that money benefiting staunchly Republican communities.
“There may be fewer resources to play with but I suspect the work will continue,” with or without federal funding, he said.
Hitchcock suggested that philanthropic organizations could create connections and opportunities for Wyoming’s coal communities if federal money were to dry up. But given the impact the federal funding is having in communities dependent on fossil fuel industries, any loss or lapse in government investment could still disrupt the pace and magnitude of Wyoming’s energy transformation, he said.
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Much of Wyoming outside of Yellowstone and Grand Teton also struggles with emergency response time.
By Katie Klingsporn, WyoFile
Wyoming’s U.S. Sen. John Barrasso is pushing legislation to upgrade emergency communications in national parks — a step he says would improve responses in far-flung areas of parks like Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.
“This bill improves the speed and accuracy of emergency responders in locating and assisting callers in need of emergency assistance,” Barrasso told members of the National Parks Subcommittee last week during a hearing on the bill. “These moments make a difference between visitors being able to receive quick care and continue their trip or facing more serious medical complications.”
The legislation directs the U.S. Department of the Interior to develop a plan to upgrade National Park Service 911 call centers with next-generation 911 technology.
Among other things, these upgrades would enable them to receive text messages, images and videos in addition to phone calls, enhancing their ability to respond to emergencies or rescues in the parks.
Each year, rangers and emergency services respond to a wide range of calls — from lost hikers to car accidents and grizzly maulings — in the Wyoming parks’ combined 2.5 million acres.
Outside park boundaries, the state’s emergency service providers also face steep challenges, namely achieving financial viability. Many patients, meantime, encounter a lack of uniformity and longer 911 response times in the state’s so-called frontier areas.
Improving the availability of ground ambulance services to respond to 911 calls is a major priority in Wyoming’s recent application for federal Rural Health Transformation Project funds.
Barrasso’s office did not respond to a WyoFile request for comment on the state’s broader EMS challenges by publication time.
The bill from the prominent Wyoming Republican, who serves as Senate Majority Whip, joined a slate of federal proposals the subcommittee considered last week. With other bills related to the official name of North America’s highest mountain, an extra park fee charged to international visitors, the health of a wild horse herd and the use of off-highway vehicles in Capitol Reef National Park, Barrasso’s “Making Parks Safer Act” was among the least controversial.
What’s in it
Barrasso brought the bipartisan act along with Sens. Angus King (I-Maine), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) and John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.).
The bill would equip national park 911 call centers with technological upgrades that would improve and streamline responses, Barrasso said. He noted that hundreds of millions of visitors stream into America’s national parks annually. That includes more than 8 million recreation visits to Wyoming’s national parks in 2024.
“Folks travel from across the world to enjoy the great American outdoors, and for many families, these memories last a lifetime,” he testified. “This is a bipartisan bill that ensures visitors who may need assistance can be reached in an accurate and timely manner.”
The Park Service supports Barrasso’s bill, Mike Caldwell, the agency’s associate director of park planning, facilities and lands, said during the hearing. It’s among several proposals that are “consistent with executive order 14314, ‘Making America Beautiful Again by Improving our National Parks,’” Caldwell said.
“These improvements are largely invisible to visitors, so they strengthen the emergency response without deterring the park’s natural beauty or history,” he said.
Other park issues
National parks have been a topic of contention since President Donald Trump included them in his DOGE efforts in early 2025. Since then, efforts to sell off federal land and strip park materials of historical information that casts a negative light on the country, along with a 43-day government shutdown, have continued to fuel debate over the proper management of America’s parks.
Several of these changes and issues came up during the recent National Parks Subcommittee hearing.
Among them was the recent announcement that resident fee-free dates will change in 2026. Martin Luther King Day and Juneteenth will no longer be included in those days, but visitors won’t have to pay fees on new dates: Flag Day on June 14, which is Trump’s birthday and Oct. 27, Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday.
Conservation organizations and others decried those changes as regressive.
At the hearing, Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM), assured the room that “when this president is in the past, Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth will not only have fee-free national park admission, they will occupy, again, incredible places of pride in our nation’s history.”
Improvements such as the new fee structure “put American families first,” according to the Department of the Interior. “These policies ensure that U.S. taxpayers, who already support the National Park System, continue to enjoy affordable access, while international visitors contribute their fair share to maintaining and improving our parks for future generations,” Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said in an announcement.
WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.
Wyoming
Evacuations spread from fires in South Dakota, Wyoming due to strong winds from coast-to-coast storm
CLIMATE TECH: As wildfires grow stronger, faster, and more expensive, a California-based startup is taking a high-tech approach to fight these fires using autonomous drones designed to extinguish flames before they turn deadly. Founder & CEO Stuart Landesberg joins FOX Weather to discuss Seneca’s firefighting drones.
Large, fast-moving fires are causing evacuations in South Dakota and Wyoming due to the impacts of a coast-to-coast storm.
The FOX Forecast Center said winds have been gusting up to 70 mph in the Pennington County, South Dakota area, which has caused the wildfire to spread rapidly.
COAST-TO-COAST STORM CAUSES TRAVEL ISSUES DUE TO HURRICANE-FORCE WINDS, HEAVY RAIN ACROSS NORTHWEST
The blaze, known as the Greyhound Fire, is approximately 200 acres in size. The fire is burning two to three miles south of Keystone and is moving east, according to the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office.
The Greyhound Fire in South Dakota spans 200 acres.
(FOX Weather / FOX Weather)
Highway 40 and Playhouse Road are closed as crews work to contain the fire.
People living along the highway between Playhouse Road and Rushmore Ranch Road have been evacuated, officials said.
TWO KIDS WAITING FOR THE BUS CRITICALLY INJURED DUE TO STRONG WINDS IN IDAHO
Crews are asking anyone in an evacuation zone to leave the area. Officials are advising people in the area to check the Pennington County Public Safety Hub.
A grass fire has caused evacuations in the Winchester Hills section of Cheyenne, Wyoming.
(FOX Weather / FOX Weather)
People in the Winchester Hills area of Cheyenne, Wyoming, have also been evacuated due to a grass fire.
The FOX Forecast Center said winds are gusting up to 75 mph in the area.
The National Weather Service has issued a Fire Warning and says there is a shelter at South High School for evacuated residents.
Check for updates on this developing story.
The University of Wyoming filed a lawsuit this week seeking $2.5 million from an energy company it partnered with to research enhanced oil recovery.
The university in 2024 signed a contract with Houston-based ACU Energy to advance research at the university’s Center of Innovation for Flow Through Porous Media, according to the university’s complaint filed Monday in Wyoming’s U.S. District Court. ACU Energy agreed to pay the university $15 million over the six-year research period. The company, according to the complaint, was to pay the university $2.5 million annually with two payments each year.
While the university kept up its end of the bargain — by assembling a research team, training research members and incurring costs to modify laboratory space — ACU Energy “failed to pay the University even a cent owed under the Agreement, leaving $2,500,000 outstanding in unpaid invoices,” the complaint alleges.
ACU Energy did not respond to a WyoFile request for comment before publication.
The company notified the university in February that it was terminating the contract, and the university notified ACU Energy in May of its breach of contract, according to court filings. The university asked the court for a jury trial.
Enhanced oil recovery refers to methods used to squeeze more crude from reservoirs that have already been tapped for primary production, extending the life of an oilfield.
The university commonly accepts money from private businesses in return for lending resources and expertise to advance research. The Center of Innovation for Flow Through Porous Media is part of the university’s Research Centers of Excellence in the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences.
The Center of Innovation for Flow Through Porous Media, led by Mohammad Piri, a professor of petroleum engineering, bills itself as “the most advanced oil and gas research facility in the world.” The center conducts research at the university’s High Bay Research facility, which “is funded by $37.2 million in state dollars and $16.3 million in private contributions, with an additional $9.2 million in private gifts for research equipment,” according to the center’s website.
The center has received donations from oil industry heavyweights like ExxonMobil, Halliburton and Baker Hughes.
Piri was tapped to serve as “principal investigator” for the UW-ACU Energy partnership, according to the university’s complaint. As of press time, ACU Energy had not filed a response to the lawsuit.
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