Wyoming
Wyoming will invalidate out-of-state driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants – WyoFile
Wyoming will invalidate the driver’s licenses that some states issue to undocumented immigrants under a new law that Gov. Mark Godon acknowledged has thrust the Equality State into uncharted waters.
Gordon on Friday allowed the legislation to become law without his signature. Like state senators, who passed the bill to express their antipathy toward illegal immigration despite noting that it might carry negative consequences for the state, Gordon figuratively held his nose while letting the measure cross his desk.
“Because of the value of asserting Wyoming’s position on illegal presence, I am allowing this bill to go into law without my signature,” Gordon wrote.
House Bill 116, “Driver’s Licenses – unauthorized alien restrictions,” will likely invalidate driver’s licenses from as many as 21 states — lawmakers had previously estimated there were 19 states, but a spokesperson for the governor’s office said state agencies were reviewing a list of 21 states maintained by the National Conference of State Legislatures. In those 21 states, lawmakers have chosen to provide driver’s licenses to people in the country illegally in an effort to promote public safety and decrease the number of uninsured drivers on the roads.
Florida appears to be the only other state to similarly attempt to regulate the driver’s licenses of other states. But that state’s legislation was more narrow in its application. Florida lawmakers banned only driver’s licenses that are issued “exclusively” to unauthorized immigrants. That restriction ultimately resulted in the state voiding driver’s licenses from only two states, Delaware and Connecticut.
Some undocumented immigrants living and working in Wyoming carry driver’s licenses issued by other states. If they’re stopped by law enforcement and their license is identified as invalidated under the new law, they’ll face a misdemeanor charge that carries a $750 fine or up to six months in prison — the same penalty that exists for driving on a suspended license.
There’s no data on how many undocumented immigrants in Wyoming use valid driver’s licenses from other states, and it’s unclear how invalidating them might impact the state’s workforce.
Law enforcement chiefs have previously told WyoFile that driving with an invalid license is likely not by itself an offense that would lead officers to detain someone and take them to jail — which could ultimately land undocumented immigrants in federal custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Detention is more likely if the officer suspects the driver of some greater illegal act, such as driving under the influence.
Wyoming Highway Patrol officers will have the discretion to issue a citation or a warning, Lt. Col. Karl Germain, who tracked the bill for the agency, told WyoFile on Monday. “We’re not going to impound their vehicle and we’re not going to detain them,” he said of drivers with invalidated licenses, unless they have outstanding warrants or there’s suspicion of a more severe crime.
But people would likely not be able to drive on if discovered to be illegally in the country, Germain said — whether that unlawful presence is due to sneaking over the border or overstaying a work visa. Such drivers would have to find an alternative driver to operate their vehicle.
Except for Delaware and Connecticut, it appears most states that issue the licenses in question give them both to people who have legal status in the country — such as a student visa — and those who don’t. Markings on the license indicate it’s not valid for federal purposes like voting, but don’t say what type of documentation or lack thereof the carrier has to be in the country. Once Wyoming’s bill takes effect in July, law enforcement will likely have to check the immigration status of people pulled over with those licenses.
As such, Gordon, in his letter, said it was an open question whether the bill could place a level of immigration enforcement on the backs of Wyoming law enforcement. “It is not immediately clear whether [the bill] places Wyoming law enforcement in an exposed role that is much more suited for the resources, training and system of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” he wrote.
“While law enforcement have access to ICE,” he continued, “the time for ICE to respond to our law enforcement may be minutes, hours, or even days. My hope is that Wyoming law enforcement resources are used to assist in illegal presence operations but not take lead in determining one’s status through credentials both issued and dictated by other states’ laws.”
Like some lawmakers, Gordon also worried about Wyoming’s status in interstate compacts that regulate driver’s licenses and the sharing of driving record data. The Non-Resident Violators Compact that Wyoming has belonged to since 1987 could conflict with the new law, Gordon wrote. The compact allows Wyoming law enforcement to issue citations to drivers from other states and then permit the driver to continue on their travels, knowing the driver’s home state will enforce Wyoming’s citation so that the driver pays any fines or returns for court.
“Being able to work together with our fellow states is imperative for the safety of all those on the road,” Gordon wrote. “This law could impact Wyoming’s ability to work with other states in this fashion.”
Col. Tim Cameron, the Wyoming Highway Patrol’s director, told WyoFile the compacts were important to his agency’s ability to enforce public safety on the roadways. “I certainly hope this doesn’t compromise that,” Cameron said.
Some senators also feared the new law will lead to more uninsured drivers on the state’s roads, since companies who insure someone with one of the impacted licenses may try to claim they weren’t liable for an accident in Wyoming.
But, as Gordon noted in his letter, the Legislature has been determined to participate in President Donald Trump’s effort to increase deportations. “Wyoming is united in our determination to secure our borders and protect both the United States and Wyoming from the nefarious actions of people who are in our country illegally,” he wrote at the start of his letter.
The bill drew opposition from Wyoming residents who are themselves undocumented or who belong to families with mixed status — where some people have a legal status and others do not. Those immigrants, and advocates who speak for them, have argued that lawmakers are unaware of both the extent of undocumented labor in the state’s workforce and the challenges of achieving legal residency status.
“Lawmakers shouldn’t be passing laws when they don’t know what they do,” Antonio Serrano, advocacy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Wyoming, previously told WyoFile.
“These are people who have been parts of the community, this has just been their normal life and all of a sudden it’s just taken away from them,” Serrano said of people working in the state who may use the impacted driver’s licenses from other states. “Going to work just got a lot harder,” he said.
One of the biggest auto and truck collections in Wyoming is about to go up for auction. You are not going to believe the size of this event. Chunks of old classics to working old cars and trucks will be on the block.
Watch the video below as they preview the Rick Knigge Collection up for auction in Evansville, Wyoming. This auction will feature many hot rod project bodies, muscle cars, old trucks, Jeeps, rock crawlers, and more. This will all be sold by VanDerBrink Auctions with online and live bidding.
The auction will be held Saturday, July 8th. Some of the auctions will be online, but some will be in person only.
According to the website, Rick passed away unexpectedly, and his family decided to offer this wild collection at auction. The auction will be live onsite with online bidding for vehicles, motors, bodies, and a few other items. There is a large assortment of 1932-35 Ford, MOPAR, Chevrolet parts, performance parts, Tri-Five, and more. These parts will be offered only to onsite bidders, so plan now to attend this wild auction.
Rick Knigge Liked to “Go Fast”! The louder, faster, the better! There are many 1932-40 Ford, Dodge, Plymouth, Chevrolet Cars and Bodies for Rods along with parts!
Here is a second video with more about Rick and the collection he loved.
The collection has muscle cars from a Plymouth GTX to Chevelles and Camaros, and more. 1970- 80s speed boats, Monster Trucks, just to name a few. There will be motors, high-performance, and vintage speed parts.
You are not going to believe the size of this event. Chunks of old classics to working old cars and trucks will be on the block.
SEE: 39 Hot Cars On Display In Wyoming
The goal of this gallery is not to provide every detail of every car, their modifications and their owners.
This was just a cool car show in Casper Wyoming.
Not matter if the people attending were into cars or not.
There was a lot of OHHH and AHHH’s heard up and down every street.
Gallery Credit: Glenn Woods
Wyoming
American Rare Earths strengthens board with veteran Wyoming mine builder ahead of planned Nasdaq listing
Veteran mine builder Matthew Gili will join American Rare Earths Ltd (ASX:ARR, OTCQX:ARRNF)’s board as a non-executive director as the company advances the Halleck Creek Rare Earths Project in Wyoming and prepares for a planned Nasdaq compliance listing in H2 2026.
Gili is currently president and CEO of Ur-Energy Inc, a NYSE American and TSX-listed Wyoming uranium producer, and brings more than 25 years of mine development and operational experience across major global mining groups including Rio Tinto and Barrick.
His appointment remains subject to completion of Australian regulatory formalities, which American Rare Earths expects to be completed shortly.
Once formally appointed, Gili will join the company’s Technical Committee and contribute to the Definitive Feasibility Study workstream at Halleck Creek, which American Rare Earths describes as the largest known rare earth deposit in the United States on a total rare earth oxide basis.
Board renewal ahead of US listing plans
The appointment forms part of a broader board renewal process as ARR works toward a Nasdaq compliance dual-listing in H2 2026, while retaining the ASX as its primary listing.
The company is also considering a full US domicile in 2027, subject to a prospective shareholder vote.
CEO Mark Wall said Gili’s operational experience and Wyoming background would strengthen the board as Halleck Creek moves toward construction and production.
“The intended addition of Matt to our Board of Directors further demonstrates our commitment to advancing the largest rare earth element deposit on a total contained rare earths basis in the United States toward construction and operations. Matt brings a tremendous blend of mining technical expertise and Wyoming-specific experience to both the Board and the Technical Committee. His depth of operational knowledge, his relationships in Wyoming, and his proven track record of delivering world-class mining projects, including building the first new copper mine in the United States in a decade, make him exactly the right person to help us get Halleck Creek built.
“As we progress toward our NASDAQ listing later this year, appointments of this calibre send a clear message to U.S. investors about the quality of the team and the seriousness of our intent. Matt’s experience managing ISR uranium operations in Wyoming gives him first-hand knowledge of the hydrometallurgical processing chemistry that will be central to bringing Halleck Creek into production. The parallels between uranium and rare earth processing are substantial and practically meaningful. This is not simply a credential; it is operational expertise that will directly benefit our Technical Committee and Feasibility Study.”
by Dustin Bleizeffer, WyoFile
The Seminoe pumped-water storage hydroelectric project in Carbon County advanced toward final approval this month, when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued its environmental impact statement, leaving critics warning of potential fish kills and other risks to wildlife.
Though the newest plan to minimize myriad impacts to fisheries, wildlife and local recreation economies makes concessions “around the margins,” project skeptics say the FERC ignored calls — including from local and state elected officials — to make more meaningful changes regarding threats, including to a “blue ribbon” trout fishery and a vital bighorn sheep herd.
“I’m very disheartened by the final EIS,” Trout Unlimited’s Wyoming Government Relations Director Patrick Harrington told WyoFile.
The plan still doesn’t mandate operational responses that would effectively prevent a trout kill in the prized Miracle Mile of the North Platte River immediately downstream of Seminoe Reservoir due to the threat of rising water temperatures, Harrington said. Trout are a cold-water species and particularly sensitive to warmer temperatures. Groups like Trout Unlimited and Friends of the North Platte have warned that even one day of higher-than-tolerable water temperatures could result in a devastating fish kill.
The potential for a Miracle Mile fish kill still exists, Harrington said, because FERC declined to update its water forecast modeling to include more recent climate-change analysis that shows higher temperatures and lower annual snowpack for cold water runoff. That leaves the protocol to respond to rising water temperatures woefully inadequate.
“It still leaves serious risk to fisheries — and those go back to our concerns over the data that informs the [water quality] model,” Harrington said.
The revised plan also retains multiple waivers to bypass seasonal construction limitations designed to protect wildlife, including the Ferris-Seminoe bighorn sheep herd. Developer rPlus Hydro says the waivers are vital to the economic feasibility for what it hopes will be a five-year construction period. Complying with the slate of seasonal wildlife restrictions will add major cost, the company has testified.
“These [wildlife timing restrictions] did not come as a surprise to them,” Wyoming Wild Sheep Foundation Executive Director Katie Cheesbrough said, adding that granting waivers of science-backed protections would set a dangerous precedent for other industrial projects in the state. “Those wildlife restrictions were publicly available, and they knew that going into it. If it was going to make the project cost-prohibitive, then they shouldn’t do the project. It’s not on Wyoming to ensure that [wildlife protections] are within their cost range.”
rPlus Hydro responds
The Utah-based company proposes building a 13,400-acre-foot reservoir in the Bennett Mountains overlooking Seminoe Reservoir near the dam — one of several reservoirs on the North Platte River. The $4 billion facility would pump water uphill during daytime “off-peak demand” hours for electricity when wind and solar power are plentiful and wholesale electricity is cheapest, according to rPlus Hydro.
“Think of it as a ‘water battery’ that stores energy generated when demand is low,” the company told WyoFile. “When demand increases, water is released from the upper reservoir back into Seminoe, driving hydroelectric turbines to produce electricity.”
Skeptics in Wyoming have cast doubt on the necessity and consumer benefit of the electrical generation daily balance strategy.
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This map depicts the Seminoe pumped water storage hydroelectric project area. (Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality)
For its part, the company contends that the Seminoe pumped-water storage project represents a $200 million annual savings to ratepayers. A company representative also told WyoFile the FERC’s final EIS “confirms the project is needed for future energy growth and reliability while also safeguarding both the North Platte River and bighorn sheep.”
rPlus Hydro Deputy General Counsel Kevin Baker pointed to the fact that the Wyoming Department of Quality granted a “section 401” water quality certificate for the project earlier this year. The state certificate is proof that “the project will not harm downstream waters, including the Miracle Mile, so drinking water, fishing and recreation remain protected,” Baker wrote.
“The state’s conclusion is backed by a robust, state-led Water Quality Adaptive Management Plan which provides real-time monitoring and strong enforcement measures designed to identify and correct any potential issues before they develop.”
The Environmental Protection Agency agreed with Wyoming DEQ’s findings and stipulations, Baker added.
But there remain huge holes in the modeling — rooted in the failure to consider a changing climate — that FERC, DEQ and the EPA have based their analysis on, Harrington contends. “It’s a castle made of sand.”
Regarding wildlife, and the Ferris-Seminoe bighorn sheep herd in particular, rPlus Hydro contends it is committed to “strict construction practices to minimize disturbance and significant investment in habitat and herd management to ensure its continued health and viability.”
But those promises are not enshrined in FERC’s stipulations for the project, said Cheesbrough of the Wyoming Wild Sheep Foundation.
There’s no way, she said, to ensure the bighorn sheep herd, and other wildlife, will be protected due to the multiple waivers FERC wants to allow for seasonal restrictions. Understandably, Cheesbrough noted, the restrictions for bighorn sheep, sage grouse, raptors and other wildlife would black out much of the calendar, limiting when construction could take place.
Protecting wildlife, Cheesbrough said, would likely add several years and dramatically increase the project’s cost. But, she added, “For them to be like, ‘Well, we just can’t afford to do it here if we have to abide by all of this,’ and then asking for waivers, it seems like a very dangerous precedent to set.”
Public and government pushback
The FERC is the primary permitting agency for the project because of its reliance on federally managed water-storage reservoirs, hydroelectric and electrical transmission systems. It’s a source of heartburn for locals, Harrington said, because the agency seems less beholden to public and local government input compared to other federal agencies.
“It’s frustrating,” Harrington said. “I think this project is headed toward licensing in September because the adjustments FERC has made have sort of just indicated that there’s not going to be a lot of changes to the plan as proposed.”
“For them to be like, ‘Well, we just can’t afford to do it here if we have to abide by all of this,’ and then asking for waivers, it seems like a very dangerous precedent to set.”
Katie Cheesbrough, Wyoming Wild Sheep Foundation
In May, the Legislature’s Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee heard a large outcry from wildlife and recreation enthusiasts opposing the project, as well as from local officials from Carbon and Natrona counties.
“These concerns are not theoretical for us,” Casper Mayor Ray Pacheco told the legislative panel. “Casper relies directly on the North Platte River for drinking water, wastewater treatment, recreation, tourism and the quality of life.”
Committee members bristled at what they saw as a severe lack of engagement by rPlus Hydro and FERC with the public and local officials. Committee leaders agreed to send a letter to Wyoming’s congressional delegation, as well as to FERC, imploring officials to insist on meaningful protections.
What’s next?
The FERC has indicated that the publication of the final EIS this month does not trigger a public comment period before giving its final approval later this year. Some governmental agencies, however, still have the power to persuade the FERC, according to WyoFile sources.
So what powers can be exerted on the FERC to change course on the project?
For example, the wildlife waivers and other accommodations in the FERC’s plan do not align with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s resource management plan for the region, administered by the BLM’s Rawlins Field Office. If the BLM chooses to accommodate FERC’s plan for the project, it would likely have to amend its resource management plan — a process that is more inclusive of public and local government agencies.
Harrington and Cheesbrough both noted that the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, for example, has refused to endorse a carte blanche waiver of seasonal wildlife restrictions. That could be a major factor if the BLM initiates the process to align its management plan with FERC’s proposed certification of the project.
“To me, that’s a massive hurdle,” Harrington said.
This article was originally published by WyoFile and is republished here with permission. WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.
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