Wyoming
Wyoming Gov. Gordon on tariffs, energy and environmental stewardship
Geoff Bennett:
President Donald Trump welcomed both Democratic and Republican governors to the White House this morning for a bipartisan meeting.
As that gathering was under way, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its major ruling on tariffs, a decision that could affect a number of states, including Wyoming, where trade and energy production play an important role in the state’s economy.
Wyoming’s Republican Governor Mark Gordon attended the morning’s gathering of governors, and joins us now.
Thanks for being here.
Gov. Mark Gordon (R-WY):
Wonderful to be here. Thanks so much.
Geoff Bennett:
I want to start with trade, since the Supreme Court, as you know, struck down the administration’s tariffs.
Well, how does that decision change the outlook for Wyoming producers and exporters, especially ranchers, energy companies, for instance, that rely on global markets?
Gov. Mark Gordon:
Well, I think that’s a good question.
What I would say is that we had already started some work with Japan and other countries in Asia to talk about getting our natural gas off the West Coast, be able to get our coal off the West Coast. It’s not really clear to us exactly how this trade decision will change that.
I think Japan, for example, was very high — Governor Lujan Grisham and I were in Japan last year, and they were very high on the notion of being able to buy American energy. We hope this continues, and that trade deficit is able to be decreased.
Geoff Bennett:
Well, what are you hearing from industry in your state?
Gov. Mark Gordon:
We were all beginning to adjust to it.
Geoff Bennett:
Right.
Gov. Mark Gordon:
Our ability to — first off, beef is a big part of our economy. Our concerns were domestic consumers. The market has been really quite good.
As far as energy is concerned, our interest is being able to get that offshore. We have tremendous amounts of energy, and we’re really looking at A.I. as being a boon to us. So we’re going to adapt kind of however it comes best for us.
Right now, it’s a little hard to know if it’s going to change our manufacturing, any of that stuff.
Geoff Bennett:
On energy, President Trump pledged to expand domestic energy production. What specifically has the administration delivered for Wyoming, and where do you still want action?
Gov. Mark Gordon:
Well, I think we’re very excited about this administration, because we are not constraining what we can produce.
So we have — Wyoming’s a powerhouse. We have tremendous amounts of fossil fuel. We have led the nation on carbon capture and other things that can make sure that we can both address climate issues and produce more energy, energy that’s available and can be produced easily. We have tremendous resources of wind and solar.
And then we have also built up our nuclear industry. TerraPower and BWXT are both doing work in Wyoming now. So we’re very excited about this administration kind of opening that up. There’s those legacy pieces that we’re working through. The last administration had put some constraints on some of our ability to develop, and we’re hoping that those can be done away with fairly quickly.
Geoff Bennett:
Let’s talk about that, because there’s news on environmental regulation today too. The administration announced it’s rolling back some clean air regulations for power plants, including limits on mercury and hazardous air toxins.
Wyoming has taken steps to regulate methane and wildlife conservation. So how do you balance environmental stewardship with economic competitiveness?
Gov. Mark Gordon:
Well, I think one of the most important things for Wyoming has been, if we do it locally, we have stakeholder engagement. The people that work in the energy business are also hunters. They love the outdoors. They love taking their family fishing.
So they care a lot about what we’re able to do, which is why we have tried to balance how we develop our energy in a way that preserves our migratory game pathways, makes sure that our sage grass populations are protected.
And the state has done that. And it has done it very successfully. I think, when we look at what we can do, as opposed to telling us what we can’t do, and we say we want to balance environmental protection with development, we don’t want to hold back the energy this nation needs, I think you look at the people who can solve those problems on the ground, and this administration has allowed us to do that.
Geoff Bennett:
Why do you think this has been controversial at the federal level, where it seems like you found a strategy for success in the state level?
Gov. Mark Gordon:
Yes, I — that’s a good question.
You look at the results that we have and, generally speaking, people are saying, gosh, that’s working with sage grass, that’s working with migratory game animals. There may be just this notion that Washington can cure everything. If we do it here, we can make it happen elsewhere.
But the real resistance I have to that is that we have private property interspaced with state and federal lands. And when you try to impose the federal will on that, you don’t have stakeholder engagement, you don’t have stakeholder belief in the outcome, and that’s the difference.
Geoff Bennett:
Wyoming is one of the most reliably Republican states in the country. Does that free you up to govern pragmatically?
Gov. Mark Gordon:
Yes, I think it does.
I think what Wyoming is really focused on is sensible solutions to making sure that we can still power our nation. We were the nation’s first national park. that’s deep in our DNA. And so I think what it has given us is the ability to kind of work carefully with property owners and others to find the best solutions.
We have worked also with Democrat administrations as well. And I think one of the friendships that I treasure most is my relationship with Governor Lujan Grisham. We both are energy states. We are not going to agree on everything, but we realize that together we can probably do a better job of representing what’s important to America, if we do work together.
Geoff Bennett:
Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon, thanks for coming in.
Gov. Mark Gordon:
Thanks so much.
If the Wyoming House and Senate approve its budget changes, then the chambers’ Joint Conference Committee will have helped the University of Wyoming dodge a $40 million cut, while also limiting the Wyoming Business Council to one year’s funding instead of the standard two.
The Joint Conference Committee adopted numerous changes to the state’s two-year budget draft, but didn’t formally advance the document to the House and Senate chambers. The committee meets again Monday and may do so at that time.
Then, the House and Senate can vote on whether to adopt that draft by a simple majority.
First, UW
Starting in January, the Joint Appropriations Committee majority had sought to deny around $20 million in exception requests the University of Wyoming made, while imposing a $40 million cut to the university’s block grant.
That’s about 10% of the state’s grant to UW but a lesser proportion of the school’s overall operating budget.
The Senate sought to restore the $60 million.
The House sought to keep the denials and cuts, ultimately settling on a bargain to cut $20 million, and hinge UW’s retention of the remaining $20 million on its finding and reporting $5 million in savings.
The Joint Conference Committee the House and Senate sent into a Friday meeting to negotiate those two stances chose to fund UW “fully,” Senate Majority Floor Leader Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, told Cowboy State Daily in the state Capitol after the meeting.
But, $10 million of UW’s $40 million block grant won’t reach it until the school charts a “road map” of how it could save $5 million, and reports that to the Joint Appropriations Committee, she added.
“A healthy exercise, I think, for them to participate in, while the Legislature still allows them to receive full grant funding,” Nethercott said.
“I’m hopeful people feel confident the University is fully funded,” she continued, as it’s “on the brink of receiving a new president, having the resources he or she may need to continue to steer the leadership of the University, our state’s flagship school into the future.”
Hours earlier in a press conference, House Speaker Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, said the Legislature has been clear that UW should avoid “diversity, equity, and inclusion” or DEI programming, and that it’s the position of the House majority that the school should tailor its programming to Wyoming’s true business needs – so UW graduates will stay in the state.
Within an earlier draft of the budget sat a footnote blocking money for Wyoming Public Media — a publicly funded media and radio entity funded through UW’s budget.
That footnote is gone from the JCC’s draft, said Nethercott.
Wyoming Business Council
The Wyoming Business Council is set to receive roughly $14 million, confined to one year, for its internal operations, said Nethercott.
“Both chambers have decided to only fund the operations,” Nethercott said, “not all the grant programs.”
She said that’s to compel the Legislature to revisit the concerns it has with the agency, then return in the 2027 legislative session with a vision for its future.
The Business Ready Communities program is “eliminated,” she said.
JCC member Rep. Ken Pendergraft, R-Sheridan, elaborated further.
Of the appropriation, $12 million is from the state’s checking account, plus the state is authorizing WBC to use $157,787 in federal funds and nearly $1 million from other sources.
“We’re going to take it up as an interim topic in appropriations (committee) and how to rebuild it and make it work the way we think it should work,” said Pendergraft. But the JCC opted to fund the Small Business Development Center for two years, along with Economic Diversification Division for Manufacturing Works, and the Wyoming Women’s Business Center, Pendergraft noted, pointing to that language on his draft budget sheet.
Pendergraft made headlines last year by saying he wanted to eliminate the Wyoming Business Council altogether.
But Nethercott told the Senate earlier this month, legislators have complained of that agency her entire nine-year tenure.
She attributed this to what she called communications shortfalls that may not be intentional. She cosponsored a now-stalled bill this year that had sought to adopt a task force to evaluate WBC.
The Wyoming Business Council’s functions range from less controversial, like helping communities build infrastructure, to more controversial, like awarding tax-funded grants to certain businesses on a competitive application process.
Wyoming Public Television
Wyoming Public Television, which is not the same as Wyoming Public Media, is slated to receive the $3 million it lost when Congress defunded the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Nethercott said.
It will also receive its usual $3 million from Wyoming.
The entity will not receive another $3 million it had sought to upgrade its emergency-alert towers, said Nethercott, “because we received information from them… they have another source to pay for the replacement and maintenance of the towers.”
Like the Wyoming Business Council, the Wyoming Public TV’s functions range from less controversial to more controversial.
The entity operates, maintains and staffs emergency alert towers throughout Wyoming.
Wyoming Public TV also produces entertainment and informational movies. Its state grants run through the community colleges’ budget.
State Employees
Nethercott noted that the JCC advanced to both chambers an agreement to pay $111 million from the state’s checking account to give state employees raises.
Those raises would bring them to 2024 market values for their work, she noted.
Because that money is coming from the state’s checking account, or “general fund,” and not its severance tax pool as the House had envisioned, then $111 million won’t impact the $105 million investment another still-viable bill seeking to build an “energy dominance fund” envisions.
That bill, sponsored by Senate President Bo Biteman, R-Ranchester, seeks to lend to large energy-sector projects.
Biteman told Cowboy State Daily in an interview days before the session convened that its purpose is to counteract “green” compacts investors have adopted, and which have bottlenecked energy projects.
Wyoming’s executive branch is currently suing BlackRock and other investors on that same assertion.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
It’s Week 11 in the 2026 Wyoming prep girls’ basketball season. That means it’s the end of the regular season. 3A and 4A schools have their final game or games to determine seeding before the regional tournament, or if a team is locked into a position, one last chance to fine-tune before the postseason. Games are spread across four days.
WYOPREPS WEEK 11 GIRLS BASKETBALL SCHEDULE 2026
Every game on the slate is a conference matchup. Several rivalry contests are part of this week’s schedule, such as East against Central, Cody at Powell, Lyman hosting Mountain View, and Rock Springs at Green River, just to name a few. Here is the Week 11 schedule of varsity games WyoPreps has. All schedules are subject to change. If you see a game missing, please email david@wyopreps.com.
CLASS 4A
Final Score: Laramie 68 Cheyenne South 27 (conference game)
CLASS 3A
Final Score: Lyman 40 Mountain View 26 (conference game)
CLASS 4A
Final Score: Evanston 41 Riverton 39 (conference game)
Final Score: Natrona County 42 Kelly Walsh 38 (conference game) – Peach Basket Classic
Final Score: #4 Thunder Basin 64 Campbell County 32 (conference game)
CLASS 3A
Final Score: #1 Cody 77 Worland 33 (conference game) – 5 different Fillies with a 3, and Hays led the way with 34 points.
Final Score: #2 Lander 49 Lyman 34 (conference game)
Final Score: #4 Wheatland 51 Douglas 40 (conference game)
Final Score: #5 Powell 48 Lovell 42 (conference game)
Final Score: Burns 56 Torrington 43 (conference game)
Final Score: Glenrock 78 Newcastle 30 (conference game)
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CLASS 4A
Rock Springs at #2 Green River, 5:30 p.m. (conference game)
#4 Thunder Basin at #5 Sheridan, 5:30 p.m. (conference game)
#1 Cheyenne East at #3 Cheyenne Central, 6 p.m. (conference game)
Jackson at Star Valley, 6 p.m. (conference game)
CLASS 3A
#3 Pinedale at Mountain View, 4 p.m. (conference game)
#1 Cody at #5 Powell, 5:30 p.m. (conference game)
Buffalo at Glenrock, 5:30 p.m. (conference game)
CLASS 3A
Newcastle at Buffalo, 12:30 p.m. (conference game)
Glenrock at Rawlins, 3 p.m. (conference game)
Torrington at #4 Wheatland, 5:30 p.m. (conference game)
Wyoming Boys 4A Swimming & Diving State Championships 2026
4A Boys State Swim Meet for 2026 in Cheyenne
Gallery Credit: David Settle, WyoPreps.com
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