Wyoming
Gordon Vetoes Bill To Deregulate Mining Over Casper Gravel Pit Amendments
Calling it a threat to Wyoming’s ability to generate mining revenue on state lands, Gov. Mark Gordon vetoed a bill Monday that would have allowed certain mining operations to have less state regulation.
Gordon said he supported Senate Enrolled Act 62 as originally written, but that amendments added to the bill would have given local counties authority over state lands.
“Ultimately, the flaws of Enrolled Act No. 62 as it has arrived on my desk outweigh its benefits,” Gordon writes in his veto letter.
Senate File 44 was designed to reduce regulation on non-coal mining operations in Wyoming. The bill also intended to address existing bonding deficiencies for issuing permits for limited mining operations (LMOs) by updating bonding requirements to take into account inflation and other withdrawals from reclamation funds.
LMOs in Wyoming are now limited to various kinds of sand, gravel and rock quarries operating on 15 acres of land or less. SF 44 would have expanded that to all non-coal minerals including rare earths, essentially making it easier for small-scale energy operations to meet the lower regulation criteria offered for LMOs, and easier to make a transition to full permitting if they chose to expand in the future.
State Rep. Donald Burkhart, R-Rawlins, chairman of the House Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee, said he was disappointed by the governor’s veto of his committee’s bill, but also saw some legitimacy to it. He said the amendments added to the bill took away from its original purpose.
“I’m disappointed, but there were some legitimate legal issues that he raised,” Burkhart said.
If the bill had passed, the only requirements needed to begin mining from the state would be that the operator receive permission to mine from the landowner and notify the Department of Environmental Quality and the inspector of mines within the Department of Workforce Services where they would be mining.
But Burkhart said an amendment added to the bill by Rep. Steve Harshman, R-Casper, on its third reading in the House altered the bill so that it gave counties some control over state mining and thus primacy over state lands.
“Which you can’t have,” Burkhart said.
Casper Gravel Pit
There were a number of late amendments made to the bill specifically targeting development of an exploratory license that had been previously granted for a contentious gravel pit located on state lands southwest of Casper.
These amendments were added for the purpose of stopping further development of an exploratory license for the gravel pit.
Gordon said these amendments would have done nothing to resolve the gravel pit situation.
“Statutory changes are not the proper place to address specific concerns for individual operations,” Gordon wrote in his veto letter. “While Wyoming seeks to manage her state lands cooperatively with counties and their land use plans, the state is not constrained by them. State lands and minerals are important to our state’s economic well-being and need to be treated the same as other lands in the state.”
Other Consequences
Gordon said the bill also would have had constitutional consequences as to how state lands are managed, and limited Wyoming’s ability to generate revenue from state lands and take management and decision-making authority away from the state.
The bill would have implemented an increased setback requirement of 500 feet on state lands and a new requirement for counties to review and issue conditional use permits. LMOs on private or federal lands only have to adhere to a 300-foot requirement, so Gordon said requiring the additional 200-foot setback for state land mining would make it uncompetitive.
“State lands and minerals are important to our state’s economic well-being and need to be treated the same as other lands in the state,” Gordon writes.
Burkhart said the Minerals Committee will take the bill back up during the upcoming interim session.
Five Bills Signed Into Law
Gordon also signed five bills into law Monday.
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Senate Enrolled Act 36 will help Wyoming judges freeze passports and issue other orders to block child abductions by parents or guardians.
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Senate Enrolled Act 36 will authorize natural or adoptive parents or legal guardians to change a minor child’s name without giving public notice of the name change.
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Senate Enrolled Act 44 will amend the Wyoming Stable Token Act to allow for investments in cash and government securities, and authorize the Wyoming Stable Token Commission to issue different types and amounts of stable tokens and to contract with financial service providers.
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Senate Enrolled Act 45 will provide an exception to special district bond elections for improvement and service districts and water and sewer districts.
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Senate Enrolled Act 31 provides a process by which special districts that have been required to dissolve for audit report noncompliance may reinstate the special district or stop the dissolution.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at Leo@CowboyStateDaily.com.
Wyoming
Wyoming Just Greenlit America’s Largest Data Center Project, and Locals Are Bracing for Impact
As the data center boom overtakes rural America, impacted residents are often divided over whether these facilities help or harm their communities. But the commissioners of Laramie County, Wyoming, are willing to bet that building the largest data center campus in the U.S. will bring in jobs, tax revenue, and long-term economic growth.
On January 6, they unanimously approved two site plans for a proposed power plant and data center campus to be built south of Cheyenne. The power plant project, called the BFC Power and Cheyenne Power Hub, is being developed by Tallgrass Energy. It will ultimately provide electricity to the Project Jade data center campus being built by AI infrastructure company Crusoe.
Crusoe and Tallgrass announced the partnership in July, revealing that the data center campus will open with a capacity of 1.6 gigawatts (GW) but will be designed to scale up to 10 GW. Achieving that maximum capacity would make it the largest single AI campus in the U.S.
Big projects with big impacts
The joint project will now progress to the construction phase in the Switch Grass Industrial Park area, located 8 miles south of Cheyenne, according to documentation obtained by Inside Climate News.
Project Jade will be developed on a 600-acre (243-hectare) parcel of land and will consist of five data centers, two support buildings, and additional supporting infrastructure. The BFC Power and Cheyenne Power Hub project will be built right next door on a 659-acre (267-hectare) parcel and will consist of two power generation facilities plus supporting infrastructure.
Crusoe and Tallgrass expect to begin construction in the first quarter of this year, and the first data center building should be operational by the end of 2027, the Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports.
Before the final vote, the Hyndman Homesites Homeowners Association—which represents a community near the project—wrote a letter to the county commissioners expressing residents’ concerns about drilling deep wells into the local aquifer, gas turbine emissions, the location of wastewater ponds, and other impacts, according to ICN.
Ahead of the final vote, the Hyndman Homesites Homeowners Association, which represents a community near the project, sent a letter to the county commissioners raising concerns about deep aquifer wells, gas turbine emissions, wastewater pond locations, and other impacts, according to ICN.
Studies suggest they’re right to be worried. Researchers have found that data center facilities much smaller than the proposed Jade campus emit harmful air pollutants such as fine particulate matter, guzzle local water resources, and drive up energy bills.
Promises of sustainability
The projects’ developers say they have plans to mitigate local impacts. To reduce the data centers’ water demand, Crusoe intends to implement closed-loop cooling systems that recycle treated water and treatment fluids, according to a 2024 Impact Report.
When Crusoe and Tallgrass announced their partnership in July, they said the data center campus’s proximity to Tallgrass’s existing CO2 sequestration hub will also provide long-term carbon capture solutions for the gas turbines powering the data centers. They added that “future renewable energy developments in the region” could eventually supplement the facilities’ power demand.
Whether these prove to be viable, meaningful solutions remains to be seen. County leadership is apparently comfortable enough with the risks to allow the projects to move forward. The true costs and benefits of their decision won’t become clear until these facilities are operational and the campus begins drawing power, water, and scrutiny at scale.
LARAMIE — The Wyoming Cowboys return to the Arena-Auditorium on Wednesday to host San Diego State in a Mountain West matchup scheduled for a 6 p.m. tipoff on CBS Sports Network.
San Diego State enters the contest tied for first place in the Mountain West, while Wyoming is seeking its 10th home win of the season.
The contest will be broadcast on the Cowboy Sports Network across 26 affiliate stations with Keith Kelley on the call and Kevin McKinney providing color commentary. In Sweetwater County, the game can be heard on KUGR 104.9 FM.
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Wyoming comes into the game with an 11-5 overall record and a 2-3 mark in conference play after a road loss to Nevada on Saturday. The Cowboys are averaging 84 points per game, which ranks second in the conference, while allowing 72.7 points per contest. Wyoming is shooting 48 percent from the field and holding opponents to 44 percent. The Cowboys average 8.3 3-pointers per game, while opponents make 6.4, and Wyoming leads the Mountain West at 38 rebounds per game.
San Diego State is 11-4 overall and 5-0 in conference play after winning eight of its last nine games. The Aztecs are tied atop the Mountain West standings with Utah State. San Diego State averages 82.5 points per game and allows 72.8. The Aztecs are shooting 48 percent from the field while holding opponents to 40 percent, and they average 37.6 rebounds and 17.1 assists per game.
Leland Walker leads Wyoming in scoring at 14.5 points per game and also averages a team-high 3.8 assists, ranking seventh in the conference. Nasir (Naz) Meyer is averaging 13.8 points and 5.1 rebounds per game while shooting 52 percent from the field. Khaden Bennett adds 9.8 points per game and ranks second on the team with 4.8 rebounds per contest. Bennett ranks fourth in the Mountain West, shooting over 87 percent from the free throw line, and is second on the team with 41 assists.
San Diego State is led in scoring by BJ Davis at 12.1 points per game. He is shooting 44 percent from 3-point range and is tied for the team lead with 21 made 3-pointers. Reese Dixon-Waters averages 11.1 points per game and also has 21 3-pointers on the season. Miles Heide leads the Aztecs with 5.4 rebounds per game, and San Diego State has seven players averaging at least three rebounds per contest.
The Cowboys trail the all-time series 53-42, with the first meeting dating back to Jan. 12, 1979. Wyoming holds a 27-14 record at home against the Aztecs. San Diego State won both meetings last season by a combined five points.
Wyoming will return to the road Saturday to face Fresno State at 5 p.m. MT in a game on the Mountain West Network.
CASPER, Wyo. — The University of Wyoming has produced several NFL players currently making an impact. Here’s how they did in the most recent week’s slate of games.
Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills
Allen was explosive for the Bills on Sunday, and Buffalo survived its playoff opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars 27–24.
Allen accounted for three of his team’s four touchdowns, two coming on the ground and the third coming by way of the pass. He threw for 273 yards on 80% efficiency, also picking up 33 yards via the rushing game.
Allen and the Bills have advanced past the Wild Card round of the playoffs every year since 2020.
In the divisional round, the Bills will face the top seed in the AFC, the Denver Broncos.
Frank Crum, Denver Broncos
Crum and the Broncos were off last week, as they earned a bye in the playoffs as the top AFC seed.
Crum will take the field against the Buffalo Bills and reigning MVP and fellow UW alum Josh Allen in the divisional round.
Marcus Epps, Philadelphia Eagles
Epps had a respectable day for the Eagles, though the team ultimately fell 23–19 to the San Francisco 49ers, marking the end of their season.
Epps had a trio of tackles for the Eagles’ secondary unit in the loss.
The former Wyoming Cowboy finishes the year with 24 tackles, including one for a loss.
Chad Muma, New England Patriots
The New England Patriots easily handled their Wild Card opponents, beating the Los Angeles Chargers 16–3. However, Muma had little impact on the result in limited playing time.
In the victory, Muma failed to record a statistic. He only took the field for 13 special teams snaps and did not play a defensive down.
The Patriots will move on to face the Houston Texans in the next round of the playoffs.
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