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Second Major Helium Plant Planned For Southwest Wyoming

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Second Major Helium Plant Planned For Southwest Wyoming


Helium is good for a lot more than fun party tricks like floating balloons and chipmunking your voice.

It’s also state of the art when it comes to coolant for rockets and semiconductors, and it’s considered irreplaceable for many medical devices, including magnetic resonance imaging machines. It’s vital for diagnosing things like cancer, brain or spinal cord injuries, and stroke or heart conditions.

An increasing number of high-tech uses for helium has ramped up demand for this noble gas in recent years, making shortages ever more frequent. 

It represents yet another multi-million opportunity for Wyoming, which has already been hitting the mineral jackpot lately with things like gold mines and uranium mines looking to ramp up in the Cowboy State.

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Wyoming today already produces 20% of the world’s Grade A helium from one location, ExxonMobil’s Shute Creek facility in Sublette County, according to the company.

Last year, Exxon announced it would expand its La Barge-Shute Creek facility, which began operations in the 1980s primarily as a natural gas plant. It added helium production a couple years later after finding an 80-year supply of helium on hand. Exxon’s announcement was focused mainly about future carbon storage. 

The company didn’t mention whether helium production will expand at the facility to meet growing demand.

As it turns out, though, ExxonMobil might not be the lone player producing helium in Wyoming for much longer. Another company is now test-drilling for helium on private land in Sublette County, even as it is working through a federal permitting process with the Bureau of Land Management.

The company is Blue Spruce, and the project is called the Dry Piney Helium and Carbon Sequestration Project near Big Piney.

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That Magic Helium Place In Sublette County

Part of what’s attracted them to Sublette County is the proven geology of the area, according to Center for Economic Geology Research Director Fred McLaughlin.

“I think they are on the La Barge platform, which is this big, buried structure that allowed gasses to accumulate for probably close to 70 million years,” McLaughlin said. “And that’s one of the secrets to getting helium to slowly build up, because helium is a small atom and it’s super buoyant and slippery.”

Helium is present in the crust of the earth as a byproduct of radioactive decay, but few places on earth have the right geology to trap the tiny molecule and keep it in place long enough for it to accumulate to an economically feasible amount for mining. 

Shute Creek, though, has already shown that this particular location in Wyoming has that magiccombination of things to collect an appreciable amount of helium that can be mined. 

“(Blue Spruce) just drilled a deep, what they call stratigraphic test well, which is very similar to the wells at Shute Creek,” McLaughlin said. “And they are targeting some of those really deep carbon formations in that neck of the woods in Wyoming.”

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An At Least 50-Year Reservoir

In an investor presentation the company shared late last year in Denver, the company has billed its project as a direct analog to ExxonMobil’s La Barge-Shute Creek facility.

It also talks about the undersupplied 2023-24 market as well as the strong growth expected for helium demand for semiconductor fabrication, fiber optics, rocket launches, and other high-tech endeavors. 

The $1.5 billion project plan includes four production pads with eight wells that are expected to produce 800 million cubic feet annually of bulk liquid helium, as well as 80 million cubic feet per day of natural gas. 

The lifespan of the resource is at least 50 years and includes a processing plant to separate helium from the gas, as well as five injection wells to store up to 4.3 million tons per year of carbon. The latter should make the project eligible for a lucrative, federal carbon storage tax credits called 45Q, which were part of the Inflation Reduction Act.

Blue Spruce expects to begin operation in the fall of 2028, according to recent announcements by Honeywell, which is providing carbon capture technology, and Chart Industries, which is providing helium processing technology.

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Other Counties May Also Have Helium

Wyoming does have lots of helium left to mine, according to a recent study by Wyoming Geological Survey, and not all of that helium is necessarily tied up in Sublette County.

Kelsey Kehoe, a project geologist with Wyoming State Geological Survey, completed a report in 2023 that looked at natural gas production where the presence of helium was reported.

The study was prompted in part by supply shortages that she said have caused helium prices to skyrocket. The commodity is generally not publicly traded, so actual pricing is difficult to determine.

Helium is not a renewable resource, and that’s part of what makes it so valuable, as well as difficult to find. Stars produce it as a byproduct of fusion, for example, or you can wait millions and millions of years for it to slowly settle out as a byproduct of radioactive decay.

Yellowstone National Park has a reservoir of helium thanks to all the hydrothermal activity, which helps release helium from the earth’s crust. But most of that likely dissipates into the atmosphere, according to the scientists who are studying that helium reservoir, looking for clues to the earth’s fiery magma core.

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As the second-lightest element on the periodic table after hydrogen, helium is an expert escape artist. It’s slippery, and since it floats, it tends to find ways to escape containment, no matter how advanced the technological device, ensuring we always need more of this curious substance. 

Kehoe, in her report, found multiple, natural gas fields across Wyoming where helium was present as a byproduct, which suggests the right geology isn’t only confined to Sublette County. 

Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.



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Rivalries and Playoff Positioning Highlight Week 11 Wyoming Girls Basketball Slate

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Rivalries and Playoff Positioning Highlight Week 11 Wyoming Girls Basketball Slate


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)

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CLASS 3A

Final Score: Lyman 40 Mountain View 26 (conference game)

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CLASS 4A

Final Score: Evanston 41 Riverton 39 (conference game)

Final Score: Natrona County 42 Kelly Walsh 38 (conference game) – Peach Basket Classic

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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)

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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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Read More Girls Basketball News from WyoPreps

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WyoPreps Girls Basketball Week 1 Scores 2025-26

 

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)

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#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)

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Buffalo at Glenrock, 5:30 p.m. (conference game)

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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)

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Submit a Score to WyoPreps

 

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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Political storm in Wyoming as far-right activist caught handing checks to lawmakers

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Political storm in Wyoming as far-right activist caught handing checks to lawmakers


Controversy has engulfed Wyoming’s state legislature after a conservative activist was photographed handing checks to Republican lawmakers on the state house floor, in an incident that has highlighted intra-conservative divisions and the role of money in the Cowboy state’s politics.

The political storm started on 9 February, when Karlee Provenza, a Democratic lawmaker, took a photo showing Rebecca Bextel, a conservative activist and committeewoman for the Teton county Republican party, handing a check to Darin McCann, a Republican representative, on the legislative floor. Marlene Brady, another Republican representative, stands in the photo’s background, a similar piece of paper pinched between her fingers.

“You have a person from the richest county in the country coming down to Cheyenne to hand out checks on the house floor,” Provenza said. “I have never seen something so egregious.”

Questions around the checks were soon swirling, and answers weren’t forthcoming. When asked what Bextel gave to her, Brady told a reporter for local outlet WyoFile: “I can’t remember.”

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Then Bextel herself addressed the incident. “I raised $400,000 in the last election cycle for conservative candidates, and I will be doubling that amount this year,” Bextel wrote on Facebook on 11 February. “There’s nothing wrong with delivering lawful campaign checks from Teton county donors when I am in Cheyenne.”

Since then, it has emerged that the checks came from Don Grasso, a wealthy Teton county donor, who told the Jackson Hole News and Guide that he wrote the checks for Bextel to deliver to 10 Freedom caucus-aligned politicians. Grasso said the checks were intended as campaign contributions, and were not tied to specific legislation. It is unclear how many checks were ultimately delivered, but two of four confirmed recipients include the speaker of the house, Chip Neiman, and John Bear, the former head of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus.

The Wyoming house has formed a legislative investigative committee, and the Laramie county sheriff’s office said they’d open a criminal investigation.

Bextel declined to answer questions from the Guardian. Brady, McCann and Bear did not respond to requests for comment.

Neiman said he considered the criticism a “wraparound smear campaign”. He said: “It never once crossed my mind that this was bribery.

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“These legislators, myself included, are now guilty until we can prove that we’re innocent. How is that right in this country? Isn’t that a little bit backwards?”

The scandal has highlighted long-standing divisions in Wyoming’s Republican party, which in recent years has seen a growing divide between old school, more moderate conservatives and a harder-right Freedom Caucus.

Several former Republican lawmakers forcefully condemned their colleagues for accepting the checks, and a local Republican party branch called for the lawmakers’ resignations.

Ogden Driskill, a Wyoming Republican senator, told the Guardian he does not consider Bextel’s actions to be illegal, but that “just because you can do it doesn’t mean you should”.

Bextel has spent years pushing against housing mitigation fees in Wyoming, and Driskill noted that she distributed the house floor checks just days before a bill she had publicly supported was set to be heard. Bextel was registered as a member of the press, not as a lobbyist when she delivered the checks.

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“Ethically and morally, it’s bankrupt to a massive degree,” Driskill said.

Neiman said that he and other legislators who received checks have supported similar bills in the past: “Bribery is paying somebody to do something they would not otherwise do.”

Nationally, the 2024 election cycle saw record-spending from the mega-wealthy, as well as dark money groups. Wyoming followed the trend, in a tense red-on-red primary season.

For those gearing up to campaign this year, Teton county, the richest in the US, and Bextel’s picturesque home turf, is an essential stop. Its extreme wealth gives it a foothold on the national level as well. Palantir chief executive Alex Karp and Donald Trump attended an annual Republican leadership fundraiser at Jackson Hole in 2024, and JD Vance attended the same one in 2025.

Bextel pulls dollars from Teton county into the Freedom Caucus side of Wyoming’s conservative split. She hosted no-press-allowed meet and greets earlier this year benefitting leading candidates for Wyoming’s governor and open US House seat.

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In an interview with the Open Range Record, a media network she co-founded, Bextel said controversy around the checks was solely because she was making “even playing field” in Wyoming against the state’s more moderate Republicans, who she calls “George Soros” candidates. She said that she will be sure to keep raising money – just away from the legislative floor.

“I guess I’m gonna ask all the gentlemen and gentleladies to step outside the Capitol while I hand them a check,” Bextel said. “Let me be clear: I’m doubling down.”

But it’s not just wealthy local donors putting their weight behind the factions. Last election cycle, out of state groups spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on anonymous and often inaccurate mailers.

“These actors, especially from the far right, they like to push the bounds of the norms,” said Rosa Reyna Pugh, an organizing and advocacy consultant at Western States Center, an Oregon-based non-profit focused on democracy in the western United States. “They like to see what policies they can kind of push, and see where they can play a piece,” Reyna Pugh said.

While Neiman and Driskill fight politically, they do agree on one thing: summer will bring an expensive and brutal campaign season.

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“You’re going to see more dark money than you’ve ever seen. We’ve done absolutely nothing to enforce it. Our secretary of state has not even made a slight attempt to deal with it,” Driskill said. “You’re going to see lots and lots of outside money and I think you’re seeing it on both sides.”

As national questions swirl around pay-to-play politics and profiteering in the Trump administration, Provenza wants better for the Cowboy State.

“We should not be aligning ourselves with how the federal government is conducting itself or how federal elections conduct themselves,” Provenza said. “We owe something far better and more honest to the people of Wyoming than that.”



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Wyoming man reaches plea deal to avoid jail time in wolf-abuse case

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Wyoming man reaches plea deal to avoid jail time in wolf-abuse case


A Sublette County man who captured and brought an injured wolf into a bar in February 2024 has struck a deal with prosecutors that could keep him out of jail, reports WyoFile.

A signed plea agreement filed with the Sublette County District Court and acquired by WyoFile on Wednesday afternoon means that Cody Roberts, 44, would likely no longer face trial. It had been set to begin March 9.

Under the deal, Roberts withdraws his earlier not guilty plea and changes that plea to guilty or no contest for felony cruelty to animals.

The deal calls for a prison sentence of 18 months to two years that would be suspended in favor of 18 months of supervised probation and a $1,000 fine. Additionally, agreed-upon conditions of his probation include: no hunting or fishing; no alcohol, presence at bars or liquor stores; and a requirement that Roberts follow recommended addiction treatment.

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As part of the deal, the parties are asking that a “pre-sentence investigation report” be ordered by the court.

Roberts allegedly acquired a wolf by striking it with a snowmobile, leaving it “barely conscious” on Feb. 29, 2024. Photos and video from that night showed him posing for pictures with the animal and even kissing it. The wolf’s behavior suggests that it was gravely injured, according to biologists who’ve reviewed video of the muzzled animal while it was prone and barely moving on the floor of the Green River Bar.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department initially handled the incident, issuing Roberts a $250 fine for possession of warm-blooded wildlife. The state agency declined to seek stiffer penalties or jail time, and Game and Fish officials maintained that predatory animals, including wolves, were exempted from felony animal cruelty laws.

Sublette County law enforcement officials disagreed. In August, prosecutor Clayton Melinkovich convened a grand jury that indicted Roberts for felony animal cruelty. That crime could have put Roberts in jail for up to two years, though his plea agreement averts mandatory time behind bars as long as he successfully completes probation.

WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.

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