Wyoming

New federal estimates could open more of southwest Wyoming to oil and gas – WyoFile

Published

9 months ago

June 20, 2025

New federal estimates could open more of southwest Wyoming to oil and gas – WyoFile

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s effort to remove barriers to energy development within the 3.6 million-acre Rock Springs Resource Management Plan area will include revised estimates of oil and natural gas reserves, according to the agency.

“We previously determined the potential for fluid mineral development to be low, especially for the Red Desert area,” Kris Kirby, Wyoming BLM’s acting state director, told a legislative panel Thursday. “However, new technologies and industry interests have changed over recent years, and the reasonably foreseeable development scenarios will be re-evaluated.”

Those initial “low” estimates, which may change dramatically based on new calculations, will potentially be used to reduce restrictions on oil and natural gas development imposed under “area of critical environmental concern” designations in the Rock Springs RMP updated in December. That plan will likely change after a review spurred by President Donald Trump’s Unleashing American Energy executive order, and Interior orders under his administration.

The U.S. Geological Survey — the BLM’s sister agency under the Interior Department — released a report Wednesday revising estimates of “undiscovered, technically recoverable” oil and natural gas reserves underlying onshore federal lands, boasting “significant increases.”

The Bureau of Land Management’s Rock Springs Field Office, which spans 3.6 million acres, is in red. (BLM)

Factoring in the industry’s advancing technologies, as well as additional surveys and modern modeling, there are 29.4 billion barrels of oil and 391.6 trillion cubic feet of gas underlying onshore federal lands nationwide, according to the USGS. That’s a 274% increase in potentially recoverable oil and a 95% increase in natural gas compared to 1998 estimates.

In southwest Wyoming, and in neighboring parts of Colorado and Utah where the BLM manages much of the oil and natural gas estate, the USGS released new estimates of 703 million barrels of oil and 5.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Though the Geological Survey didn’t provide context regarding the percentage increase for technically recoverable reserves in the region, Wyoming BLM officials acknowledged that the current Rock Springs management plan was based on “outdated” estimates.

“We’re going to be looking through those reasonable, foreseeable development scenarios,” BLM Wyoming Senior Advisor Brad Purdy told the Select Federal Natural Resource Management Committee. “We’ll be working with USGS, we’ll be working with the state of Wyoming and we’ll bring that into that evaluation.”

Rock Springs RMP

Meantime, the BLM is proceeding under the December version of the management plan for the Rock Springs region.

Though the agency is under orders from the Trump White House and Interior to review the plan and remove aspects that may inhibit energy development, the current plan still allows for robust oil and gas development that keeps pace with the industry’s demand, Kirby said. The BLM’s Rock Spring office has approved 27 permits to drill since January and is on track to approve twice that number this year, which is more than each of the last couple of years, she said.

“So we wanted to make clear that we have continued to permit and to do mineral development within the Rock Springs area and that [the Rock Springs RMP] has not prohibited us from doing that,” Kirby told the committee.

Before the plan was finalized last year, the BLM proposed excluding nearly two-thirds of the Rock Springs management area from potential mineral development by increasing areas of rights-of-way restrictions for things like maintained roads, power lines and pipelines — essential components to drill and ship oil and natural gas. But the agency slashed those restrictions by more than half.

Now, Wyoming lawmakers are eager to see the fruits of the Trump administration’s efforts to open the doors to further mineral development. Still, some on the legislative committee said they worry about what happens when a new leader eventually takes the White House.

“Administrations change all the time,” Casper Republican Sen. Bob Ide said. “Will [the BLM’s changes] get rescinded by the next administration?”

“That’s a great question,” Kirby said. “Our goal is to come up with a durable decision that will kind of survive, you know, different administrations.”

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Wyoming

Wyoming’s per capita personal income reaches fourth in the nation

Published

3 hours ago

March 6, 2026

Press Room

Wyoming’s per capita personal income reaches fourth in the nation

WYOMING — The State of Wyoming Department of Administration & Information has announced that Wyoming’s per capita personal income (PCI) is now ranked fourth highest in the United States at $86,477 per 2024 data, trailing on the District of Columbia ($111,185), Connecticut ($95,067) and Massachusetts ($93,607). The number is highly affected by Teton County, where […]

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Wyoming

Wyoming 3A and 4A Boys Basketball Regionals Tip Off Postseason Play

Published

15 hours ago

March 6, 2026

Press Room

Wyoming 3A and 4A Boys Basketball Regionals Tip Off Postseason Play

The 2026 postseason has arrived for Wyoming High School boys’ basketball teams in Class 3A and 4A. They participate in regional tournaments from Thursday through Saturday. The regionals will be in Buffalo, Evanston, Gillette, and Lovell. Three sites will use the format: two wins qualify a team for the state tournament next week in Casper, or two losses eliminate a team. The 4A East Region has three loser-out first-round games on Thursday, followed by two days of games for seeding. The 4A East Regular Season champ draws a first-round bye and has qualified for the state tournament.

WYOPREPS 3A-4A BOYS BASKETBALL REGIONAL TOURNAMENT SCHEDULES

Except in the 4A East Regional, Friday starts with elimination games. The regional semifinals are on Friday night. The final seeds for next week’s state tournament will be determined on Saturday. The schedules below for this weekend are based on the brackets sent to WyoPreps. It is subject to change.

THURSDAY, MARCH 5:

Final Score: (3) Pinedale 58 (6) Mountain View 40

Final Score: (2) Cody 58 (7) Powell 46

Final Score: (1) Lovell 75 (8) Lyman 43

Final Score: (4) Lander 65 (5) Worland 40

FRIDAY, MARCH 6:

Game 5: Mountain View vs. Powell, noon – loser out

Game 6: Lyman vs. Worland, 1:30 p.m. – loser out

Game 7: Pinedale vs. Cody, 6 p.m. – semifinal

Game 8: Lovell vs. Lander, 7:30 p.m. – semifinal

SATURDAY, MARCH 7:

Game 9: Winner Game 5 vs. Loser Game 8, 11 a.m. – loser out

Game 10: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 7, 11 a.m. – loser out (at LMS)

Game 11: Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10, 5 p.m. – 3rd Place Game

Game 12: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 2 p.m. – Championship Game

THURSDAY, MARCH 5:

Final Score: (3) Douglas 85 (6) Rawlins 50

Final Score: (2) Wheatland 57 (7) Burns 40

Final Score: (5) Torrington 35 (4) Newcastle 28

Final Score: (1) Buffalo 69 (8) Glenrock 44

FRIDAY, MARCH 6:

Game 5: Rawlins vs. Burns, noon – loser out

Game 6: Newcastle vs. Glenrock, 1:30 p.m. – loser out

Game 7: Douglas vs. Wheatland, 6 p.m. – semifinal

Game 8: Torrington vs. Buffalo, 7:30 p.m. – semifinal

SATURDAY, MARCH 7:

Game 9: Winner Game 5 vs. Loser Game 8, noon – loser out

Game 10: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 7, 1:30 p.m. – loser out

Game 11: Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10, 7:30 p.m. – 3rd Place Game (if necessary)

Game 12: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 4:30 p.m. – Championship Game

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THURSDAY, MARCH 5:

Final Score: (NW-3) Kelly Walsh 64 (SW-2) Riverton 49

Final Score: (NW-1) Natrona County 77 (SW-4) Jackson 23

Final Score: (NW-2) Green River 50 (SW-3) Evanston 40

Final Score: (SW-1) Star Valley 62 (NW-4) Rock Springs 60 – Erickson makes a turnaround jumper at the buzzer off an offensive rebound for the Braves.

FRIDAY, MARCH 6:

Game 5: Riverton vs. Jackson, noon – loser out

Game 6: Evanston vs. Rock Springs, 1:30 p.m. – loser out

Game 7: Kelly Walsh vs. Natrona County, 6:30 p.m. – semifinal

Game 8: Green River vs. Star Valley, 8 p.m. – semifinal

SATURDAY, MARCH 7:

Game 10: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 7, 11:30 a.m. – loser out

Game 9: Winner Game 5 vs. Loser Game 8, 1 p.m. – loser out

Game 11: Winner Game 10 vs. Winner Game 11, 4:30 p.m. – 3rd Place Game (at EMS)

Game 12: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 4:30 p.m. – Championship Game

THURSDAY, MARCH 5:

Game 1: (1) Sheridan = Bye

Final Score: (2) Cheyenne Central 75 (7) Cheyenne South 35 – Bison are eliminated

Final Score: (3) Thunder Basin 75 (6) Laramie 59 – Plainsmen are eliminated; Bolts qualify for state

Final Score: (4) Campbell County 59 (5) Cheyenne East 39 – loser out; Thunderbirds are eliminated; Camels qualify for state.

FRIDAY, MARCH 6:

Game 6: Cheyenne Central vs. Thunder Basin, 4:30 p.m. – semifinal

Game 5: Sheridan vs. Campbell County, 7:30 p.m. – semifinal

SATURDAY, MARCH 7:

Game 7: Loser Game 5 vs. Loser Game 6, 11:30 a.m. – 3rd Place Game

Game 8: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6, 2:30 p.m. – Championship Game

James Johnson Winter Showcase Basketball Tournament 2026

Photos from game action at the James Johnson Winter Showcase tournament in Cheyenne.

Gallery Credit: Courtesy: Shannon Dutcher

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Wyoming

Explore small streams of Wyo. with WGFD XStream Angler challenge

Published

1 day ago

March 5, 2026

Press Room

Explore small streams of Wyo. with WGFD XStream Angler challenge

WYOMING — The Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) is rolling out its 2026 XStream Angler challenge, open to anyone looking to fish the smaller streams of Wyoming. The XStream Angler challenge is an opportunity for anglers in the state to explore over 150 streams with instream flow water rights. According to WGFD, instream flow […]

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