Wyoming Environmental Organizations & Issues
Call to Action (received by email from Jill Morrison, Executive Director of Powder River Basin Resource Council on February 16, 2020.
“Thanks to those of you who have already sent in your comments to DEQ. If you have not yet commented please take a moment now and send in your comments to protect streams and Boysen reservoir from oil and gas wastewater pollution. Comments are due by Feb 18th.
Your Voice Made a Difference! We Need Your Help Again to Protect Streams and Boysen Reservoir from Polluted Oil and Gas Wastewater.
Background
Your earlier comments to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality persuaded the agency to deny Aethon Energy Company’s proposal to increase the discharge of oil and gas wastewater from the Moneta Divide field to over 8.25 million gallons per day. Polluted wastewater from this facility is currently dumped into Alkali and Badwater Creeks in Fremont County which flow into Boysen Reservoir and then into the Class 1 Wind River.
We can’t thank you enough for writing the DEQ and attending the public meetings! Your voice made a big difference, but our efforts must continue to ensure clean-up and protection of these streams, Boysen Reservoir and the Wind River.
While DEQ has denied the increase in the volume of polluted oil and gas wastewater discharges, the existing discharge --about 2 million gallons per day -- will be allowed to continue. This discharge has already caused significant damage to Alkali and Badwater creeks and likely impacted aquatic life and water quality in Boysen Reservoir.
The Problem
While we support the improvements proposed by DEQ in the revised draft permit, our experts still advise us that more restrictions in the revised permit are needed to protect water quality and aquatic life. The revised permit must include more stringent pollution limits on the existing discharges to ensure that our cherished surface waters are protected for future generations.
The company’s existing DEQ discharge permit still allows 908 tons per month of salts --also known as total dissolved solids or TDS-- and other oil field pollutants to be discharged into Alkali and Badwater Creeks. Yet the DEQ’s own data reveals that the existing discharge has already impacted these streams. Unfortunately, by allowing the same quantity of salts, as well as other harmful pollutants, to be discharged, the revised draft permit does not adequately protect water quality and the multiple uses, including wildlife, recreation, and agriculture, that depend on clean water. DEQ needs to do more to protect our lakes and streams from polluted oil and gas field wastewater.
Call to Action
Please write to DEQ and thank them for their efforts, and for listening to your concerns. Ask DEQ to develop stronger limits on pollutants to ensure Aethon’s oil and gas discharges no longer cause damage to stream quality.
Ask DEQ to do the following:
Kevin Frederick
DEQ/WQD Administrator
200 West 17th St.
Cheyenne, WY 82002
Comments must be received by February 17, 2020 for them to be considered.
THANK YOU FOR HELPING PROTECT WYOMING’S WATER QUALITY!
Jill Morrison
Executive Director
Powder River Basin Resource Council
934 North Main
Sheridan,Wyoming 82801
(307) 672-5809 – office
(307) 751-5574 – cell
www.powderriverbasin.org"
“Thanks to those of you who have already sent in your comments to DEQ. If you have not yet commented please take a moment now and send in your comments to protect streams and Boysen reservoir from oil and gas wastewater pollution. Comments are due by Feb 18th.
Your Voice Made a Difference! We Need Your Help Again to Protect Streams and Boysen Reservoir from Polluted Oil and Gas Wastewater.
Background
Your earlier comments to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality persuaded the agency to deny Aethon Energy Company’s proposal to increase the discharge of oil and gas wastewater from the Moneta Divide field to over 8.25 million gallons per day. Polluted wastewater from this facility is currently dumped into Alkali and Badwater Creeks in Fremont County which flow into Boysen Reservoir and then into the Class 1 Wind River.
We can’t thank you enough for writing the DEQ and attending the public meetings! Your voice made a big difference, but our efforts must continue to ensure clean-up and protection of these streams, Boysen Reservoir and the Wind River.
While DEQ has denied the increase in the volume of polluted oil and gas wastewater discharges, the existing discharge --about 2 million gallons per day -- will be allowed to continue. This discharge has already caused significant damage to Alkali and Badwater creeks and likely impacted aquatic life and water quality in Boysen Reservoir.
The Problem
While we support the improvements proposed by DEQ in the revised draft permit, our experts still advise us that more restrictions in the revised permit are needed to protect water quality and aquatic life. The revised permit must include more stringent pollution limits on the existing discharges to ensure that our cherished surface waters are protected for future generations.
The company’s existing DEQ discharge permit still allows 908 tons per month of salts --also known as total dissolved solids or TDS-- and other oil field pollutants to be discharged into Alkali and Badwater Creeks. Yet the DEQ’s own data reveals that the existing discharge has already impacted these streams. Unfortunately, by allowing the same quantity of salts, as well as other harmful pollutants, to be discharged, the revised draft permit does not adequately protect water quality and the multiple uses, including wildlife, recreation, and agriculture, that depend on clean water. DEQ needs to do more to protect our lakes and streams from polluted oil and gas field wastewater.
Call to Action
Please write to DEQ and thank them for their efforts, and for listening to your concerns. Ask DEQ to develop stronger limits on pollutants to ensure Aethon’s oil and gas discharges no longer cause damage to stream quality.
Ask DEQ to do the following:
- Require Aethon to clean up the existing damage caused by decades of oil field pollution in Alkali and Badwater creeks. DEQ should immediately reduce the monthly load of salts allowed to be discharged in the permit.
- DEQ’s proposed permit will allow industry four years to come into compliance allowing pollution to be discharged that violates water quality standards. Ask DEQ to require industry to reduce the concentrations of chloride allowed in Badwater Creek now rather than in four years. The regulatory limit for chloride in Badwater Creek is 230 mg/L, but chloride concentrations in the wastewater being discharged into these creeks is 100 times higher.
- Ask DEQ to require limits in the permit for harmful oil field chemicals such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes at the discharge points.
- Tell DEQ to list Alkali and Badwater Creeks on the 303 (d) impaired waters list so it will be cleaned up. DEQ should deny any future requests by industry to weaken the regulatory chloride concentration and allow more pollution into Badwater Creek.
Kevin Frederick
DEQ/WQD Administrator
200 West 17th St.
Cheyenne, WY 82002
Comments must be received by February 17, 2020 for them to be considered.
THANK YOU FOR HELPING PROTECT WYOMING’S WATER QUALITY!
Jill Morrison
Executive Director
Powder River Basin Resource Council
934 North Main
Sheridan,Wyoming 82801
(307) 672-5809 – office
(307) 751-5574 – cell
www.powderriverbasin.org"
Powder River 2020 Legislative Update
Week 1: February 10-14, 2020
Greetings from Cheyenne! With over 400 bills filed, the 2020 legislative session has already been very busy for our issues. We’ve carefully combed the bill list, testified in committees, written amendments, lobbied Senators and Representatives on bill introduction votes, and otherwise worked hard this week to protect your interests.
But we need your help. With these updates, we encourage you to get engaged in the legislative process. You are the most powerful voice when persuading and educating your legislators on supporting or opposing legislation.
Please consider leaving a phone message, sending an email and even mailing your Representative or Senator to make sure your voice gets heard on the bills we list below. You can leave a message for your Senator by calling 307-777-7711, and messages for Representatives can be left by calling 307-777-7852 during session hours. You can also comment directly on a bill by clicking on the “Comment” tab of any bill linked below (available 24 hours a day) or by calling 866-996-8683 (available 8-5 M-F). You can even send a postcard or letter to your legislator by mailing to: Attn: Legislator Name, 200 W. 24th Street, Cheyenne, WY 82002.
If you ever have any questions or need more information about how best to get in touch with legislators or questions on a particular bill, please feel free to call our office at 307-672-5809 or reply to this email.
Here is a brief overview of the priority bills we have been tracking this session. We know it’s a long list, but we hope you read to the end and choose the bills of most interest to you to contact your Rep and Senator. Thanks for your action and your interest!
Bills to Subsidize & Promote Coal
One of the largest group of bills we are working on this session revolve around legislative efforts to subsidize or promote coal. The Governor in the State of the State address on Monday set the tone for the session when he said “we will not recklessly abandon our most abundant and reliable energy source just because it is unpopular with some people.” He decried efforts in other states to retire coal plants and promote clean renewable energy and called out “Well, not on my watch!” in response to arguments that the coal industry is in decline. Unfortunately, legislators answered his call to arms and have sponsored several pieces of legislation that seek to defy energy markets and put Wyomingites at risk of paying much higher rates for electricity.
House Bill 200 - Reliable and dispatchable low-carbon energy standards, sponsored by Representative Zwonitzer and eleven other legislators, seeks to create a first-in-the nation standard to require utilities to use coal or natural gas plants with carbon capture systems. Naturally, this bill raises a bunch of questions as no utility in the country is providing reliable and affordable energy at a plant with carbon capture. In short, the bill creates a regulatory mandate no utility can – or should – meet. The worst part of the bill is it allows a utility to recover the costs of using such carbon capture systems from its customers – up to $1 billion. Senator Case, the legislature’s resident expert on utilities, estimates HB 200 could raise electricity rates by 15% or more. For more background on the bill read this WyoFile article and look for an editorial from our own Bob LeResche in this weekend’s Casper Star Tribune. The bill will be headed to the House Revenue Committee next week, and then back to the floor. Please contact your Representative and ask him or her to vote NO on the bill.
House Bill 4, Wyoming Coal Marketing Program, sponsored by the Minerals Committee, provides $2 million in funding to the Governor to expand and protect Wyoming’s coal markets and coal facilities. But, in a Jekyll and Hyde fashion, the bill also has a dual purpose to fund projects that address impacts cities, towns and counties have experienced or will experience due to changes in the coal market. We are seeking to amend the bill to focus on funding for communities experiencing energy transition impacts. Our proposed amendment led to a good discussion in committee on Wednesday, but it ultimately was not sponsored. We will try again for the House Floor. Unless the bill is amended, we oppose it as an unwise use of funds that will likely have limited success in achieving its goals of expanding and protecting Wyoming’s coal markets. Please contact your Representative and ask him or her to vote NO on the bill.
House Bill 117 - Exportation of Mineral Resources, sponsored by Speaker of the House Harshman and several other legislators proposes to automatically divert a portion of coal severance tax revenue into a fund for the Governor to increase or stabilize the exportation of Wyoming’s mineral resources. The bill places a heavy priority on litigation activities, such as the recent effort to sue the state of Washington over its denial of a coal port facility. It’s a risky diversion and amounts to an approximately $12 million loss in annual revenue to the state’s general fund (the budget) and the budget reserve account (our budget savings account). We ask legislators to vote against this proposal because it will not create a return on the state’s investment and will rob government services that need the money and can put it to good use. The bill was heard in the House Appropriations Committee on Thursday, and after discussion and testimony from the Wyoming Mining Association in favor and us in opposition, Chairman Nicholas tabled the bill. It could still come back – please contact members of the House Appropriations Committee and ask them to vote NO on the bill. Here are the email addresses for the committee: Bob.Nicholas@wyoleg.gov, Mark.Kinner@wyoleg.gov, Lloyd.Larsen@wyoleg.gov, Jared.Olsen@wyoleg.gov, Andy.Schwartz@wyoleg.gov, Albert.Sommers@wyoleg.gov, Tom.Walters@wyoleg.gov
Senate File 21 - Coal Fired Electric Generation Facilities, goes back to the most controversial bill we worked on during last year’s session, Senate File 159, which set forth requirements for a utility to try and sell a coal plant before retiring it. This year’s set of amendments to Senate File 159 cover the issue of how a buyer of a coal plant can sell power, and essentially answers the question of how a new buyer can make money. The bill allows a coal plant buyer to sell power to a large customer (mainly an industrial one) in the same service territory. In response to concerns from us and others, the bill was heavily amended in committee to add in protections for ratepayers, like residential customers, left on the system after the coal plant sale, but we still believe the bill is problematic and too risky. As Senator Case said in committee, this bill “is a pretty major disruption of the utility model” by allowing someone besides a regulated utility to sell power. The bill will head to the Senate Floor next week. We urge Senators to vote NO on the bill.
Senate File 133- Electric Generation Facilities Operation and Retirement, also addresses the topic of coal plant retirement and forces a utility to jump through a bunch of new regulatory requirements before taking a coal plant offline. The bill preempts rulemaking being carried out by the Public Service Commission to implement last year’s Senate File 159– rulemaking that is the result of significant stakeholder involvement. We believe Senate File 133 is premature until the rulemaking is complete and urge Senators to vote no. The bill was assigned to the Senate Corporations Committee with a unanimous vote.
Tax Breaks for Industry
Bills to reduce or eliminate severance taxes for uranium, coal, and oil and gas abound this session, but we did have an early success in defeating a property tax exemption for sites that store energy production equipment.
Senate File 25, Energy production inventory exemption – SUCCESS!! First the good news – thanks to your emails and phone calls, coupled with our in-person lobbying work on Monday, Senators voted down a controversial bill that would have exempted property taxes on sites used for storing energy production equipment. The defeat of this bill was a much-needed early success!
House Bill 154- Severance Tax on Coal, proposes to decrease the severance tax rate for coal from 7% to 6.5%. This idea was defeated twice during interim session committee work, and luckily was defeated once again this week. The bill was not brought up for an introduction vote, causing it to die.
House Bill 231- Coal severance tax exemption-Canadian and Mexican ports on the other hand, this new proposal to reduce coal severance taxes has some legs. The bill reduces coal severance taxes for coal that would be exported through ports in Canada and Mexico. It’s an effort to promote coal exports, but unfortunately all it would do is decrease much needed funding for education and government services. Subsidizing coal exports by exempting severance taxes won’t make coal exports any more economical or technically feasible. The bill was introduced on Friday and assigned to the House Revenue Committee. Please contact members of the committee to vote NO on the bill. Here are the email addresses for committee members: dan.zwonitzer@wyoleg.gov, Jim.Blackburn@wyoleg.gov, Cathy.Connolly@wyoleg.gov, JoAnn.Dayton@wyoleg.gov, Tim.Hallinan@wyoleg.gov, Dan.Laursen@wyoleg.gov, Jim.Roscoe@wyoleg.gov, Patrick.Sweeney@wyoleg.gov, Cyrus.Western@wyoleg.gov.
House Bill 243 - Oil & gas new production, is, as they say in legislature vernacular, an “old friend.” With your opposition, we have killed proposals like House Bill 243 to give the oil and gas industry a tax break many times over. We need your help again to get legislators to understand once again that the severance rate is not the determining factor on whether an oil and gas well gets drilled and the only thing this bill does is take money away from schools and other government services. The bill was introduced on Friday and assigned to the House Appropriations Committee. Please contact members of the committee to vote NO on the bill. Here are committee member’s emails: Bob.Nicholas@wyoleg.gov, Mark.Kinner@wyoleg.gov, Lloyd.Larsen@wyoleg.gov, Jared.Olsen@wyoleg.gov, Andy.Schwartz@wyoleg.gov, Albert.Sommers@wyoleg.gov, Tom.Walters@wyoleg.gov.
Senate File 85 Uranium taxation rates, is another severance tax break bill that is back from the dead. It is no secret that the uranium industry is struggling with the lowest annual production levels in decades, but forgiving their severance tax bills won’t make or break the bottom line of these mines. Study after study has shown that severance tax breaks won’t increase production or create jobs because global market trends are the determining factor for whether Wyoming’s mineral resources get developed. The bill will be headed to the Senate Revenue Committee. Please contact members of the committee to vote NO on the bill. Here are the emails for the committee: Cale.Case@wyoleg.gov, Fred.Baldwin@wyoleg.gov, Bo.Biteman@wyoleg.gov, Ogden.Driskill@wyoleg.gov, Affie.Ellis@wyoleg.gov.
House Bill 91- Economic diversification incentives for mineral exploration is a doozy of a bill. The bill’s sponsor, Representative Miller, who just so happens to work in the mineral exploration business, wants to provide a severance tax credit for mineral exploration so long as the mineral is not currently being produced in the county. The bill has been assigned to the Travel, Recreation, & Wildlife Committee, which Rep. Miller chairs. Please contact your Representative and ask him or her to vote NO on the bill.
Landowner Protections
We are supporting several bills this session that will increase rights and protections for surface landowners and mineral owners.
House Bill 111 - Split estate act- measure of damages would improve how split estate landowners deal with companies looking to develop oil and gas on their land. The bill addresses long-standing issues of how much landowners can get compensated for impacts to their land when companies “bond on.” The bill is a much-needed common sense reform to help level the playing field and ensure surface owners get a fair shake when oil and gas companies come knocking. The bill was assigned to the House Minerals Committee. Please contact members of the committee and ask them to VOTE YES on the bill. Here are the emails of the committee members: mike.greear@wyoleg.gov, Donald.Burkhart@wyoleg.gov, Thomas.Crank@wyoleg.gov, Shelly.Duncan@wyoleg.gov, Danny.Eyre@wyoleg.gov, Dan.Furphy@wyoleg.gov, Bill.Henderson@wyoleg.gov, Bunky.Loucks@wyoleg.gov, Joe.MacGuire@wyoleg.gov.
House Bill 14 - Drilling units-risk penalties and mandatory royalties helps address problems mineral owners face in a “force pooling” situation (where the mineral owner did not lease his or her oil and gas but nevertheless gets pulled into a project because the resources become part of a pooling order). The bill makes some good improvements to help mineral owners. The bill passed the House Minerals Committee on Friday and is now headed to the floor. Please contact your Representative and ask him or her to VOTE YES on the bill.
Senate File 44 - Mining permit applications– objections is a big modification to the comment and hearing rights of landowners and other citizens concerned about proposed coal and other mining operations. On the coal side, the bill brings our state law into better compliance with the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) by mandating an informal conference before the DEQ Director to be held before a permit is issued. We’ve worked on the bill throughout the three interim committee meetings last summer and fall and have proposed amendments adopted by the Minerals Committee to ensure our state law retains its compliance with SMCRA and does not undermine the public comment and hearing rights of landowners. On the non-coal side, we’ve also advocated for better hearing rights for sand and gravel, uranium, bentonite, and other kinds of mines. The bill passed Committee of the Whole in the Senate. Please contact your Senator and ask him or her to require an informal conference or hearing for non-coal mines prior to permit issuance to allow the concerns of an interested citizen to be heard and considered before the permit is issued.
Supporting Our Agricultural Heritage
We support a group of bills that will protect and expand economic opportunities for Wyoming’s family farmers and ranchers.
House Bill 84 - Food freedom amendments, allows a third-party to sell certain local foods, such as produce, and certain baked and canned goods. This facilitates the sale of more local food in retail stores and other venues besides direct producer-to-consumer sales at farmers’ markets. We support the bill as a way to increase opportunities for our agricultural producers. The bill has been assigned to the House Ag Committee. Please contact members of the committee and ask them to VOTE YES on the bill. hans.hunt@wyoleg.gov, Stan.Blake@wyoleg.gov, Aaron.Clausen@wyoleg.gov, Bill.Haley@wyoleg.gov, Bill.Henderson@wyoleg.gov, Dan.Laursen@wyoleg.gov, Evan.Simpson@wyoleg.gov, Richard.Tass@wyoleg.gov, John.Winter@wyoleg.gov.
House Bill 142 - Agriculture marketing funds -processing plants, provides a small fund to assist Wyoming meat processing facilities in getting up and running. We support the bill as a way to get more of our good local Wyoming meat to market. Please contact members of the committee and them to VOTE YES on the bill. See emails above and you can send a single email about both bills.
House Bill 244 - beef checkoff penalty-repeal, makes the beef checkoff payment voluntary. This would be a good thing for our family farmer and rancher members. The beef checkoff program has had years of controversy and questionable spending and does not promote U.S.-raised beef. The bill was introduced on Friday and assigned to the House Agriculture Committee. Please contact members of the committee and ask them to VOTE YES on the bill. Here are the email addresses of committee members: hans.hunt@wyoleg.gov, Stan.Blake@wyoleg.gov, Aaron.Clausen@wyoleg.gov, Bill.Haley@wyoleg.gov, Bill.Henderson@wyoleg.gov, Dan.Laursen@wyoleg.gov, Evan.Simpson@wyoleg.gov, Richard.Tass@wyoleg.gov, John.Winter@wyoleg.gov.
Senate File 67 - criminal trespass, increases penalties for trespassing. Our organization has long-standing support for strong enforcement of trespass crimes. The bill has been assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee and will be in committee on Monday 2/17.
Addressing the Economic Impacts of Mineral Company Bankruptcies
We support a group of bills from the Coal/Mineral Bankruptcy Task Force that was convened in response to the chaotic shutdown of the Blackjewel coal mines last July. The bills fix some pretty big problems and will help ensure counties and our schools keep getting the revenue they are owed from companies in economic distress.
House Bill 159 - ad valorem tax payments, changes how counties collect mineral production taxes, creating a monthly collection system. This would put mineral production taxes on par with how we collect state severance taxes and federal mineral royalties. It would create a more timely and effective payment system, and limit the amount owed to a county when a company enters bankruptcy. This bill has been offered for several years now, but with support of the County Commissioners Association and legislative leadership, we hope this is finally the session it will make it through. The bill will be heard by the House Minerals Committee next week. Please contact members of the committee and ask them to VOTE YES on the bill. (See contact info above).
House Bill 182 - tax lien enforcement, helps counties move up the collection line when a company files for bankruptcy. Bankruptcy and tax law are both very complicated, so we won’t attempt to describe all of the intricacies, but know that it is a good thing for schools and our communities. This bill has also been referred to the House Minerals Committee.
House Bill 196 - transfer of mineral interests provides that a company can’t transfer its coal or oil and gas permits until taxes are paid up. This is a good tool for counties and our state to ensure a company can’t offload tax liabilities to a less financially viable company who likely won’t be able to pay. This situation has played out several times over in the Powder River Basin and tens of millions of dollars of tax revenue is at risk if we don’t fix this loophole. The bill was referred to the House Revenue Committee.
Regulating Renewable Energy
In contrast to the support for coal, some legislators are trying to penalize renewable energy with bills that also penalize electricity customers who benefit from the low cost source of power. There are also some bills that are trying to create a smart regulatory and tax system for large-scale solar and wind projects as more utilities turn to developing Wyoming’s world class renewable energy resources.
Senate File 125 - Electricity production standard – Success!! This was a revived version of a bill we killed back in 2017 that would have penalized utilities that generate and sell renewable energy to customers. Once the bill popped up on the list, we immediately went to work to defeat it by exposing its flaws in the press and lobbying against its introduction. We were successful and the bill failed to get enough votes to be introduced this legislative session.
House Bill 226 - net metering contracts expressly authorized is a good news/bad news kind of bill. Under current law, customer-generated (or net-metered) renewable energy systems like rooftop solar are capped at 25 kW. There is great interest in raising that cap, especially for businesses and local governments to be able to generate more of their own power to reduce their electricity costs. This bill allows greater systems by contract with a utility, but the bad news part is it requires a showing that no costs would be shifted to other utility customers. This would likely be a difficult standard to show. We support raising the cap but were concerned that if this bill moved forward, legislators might add language to reduce the payback of rooftop solar systems. However, the sponsor of the bill pulled it before it could make it through introduction.
House Bill 179- Electricity generation taxation creates a new generation tax on solar. The $1 per megawatt hour tax is what the wind energy pays now. We support policies that provide a return to our state from the development of renewable energy, but are concerned that the bill may create unintended consequences. We are supporting amendments that exempt customer-generated systems and ensure that the tax only applies to large utility-scale projects. The bill was introduced on Friday and was assigned to the House Revenue Committee.
Senate File 36 - large scale solar and wind energy facilities brings in large solar systems into Wyoming’s Industrial Siting Act by requiring a permit and placing restrictions on solar energy facility locations. It’s a long and complicated bill, and it went through major revisions in committee this week. We have been supporting amendments that ensure a fair playing field for solar compared to fossil fuel development.
Other Bills of Interest
There are also several priority bills that don’t fit neatly into the categories above, so here are some miscellaneous bills that are nevertheless important.
House Bill 74 - small modular nuclear reactor permitting is one of the stranger ideas floating around this legislative session. It would allow permitting a small modular nuclear reactor (which by the way do not currently exist in the country) at a retiring coal or natural gas plant site. Sponsored by Representative Miller, the idea here is apparently transition a coal plant to small nuclear. That idea has numerous technical and economic flaws. We oppose the bill. The bill will be continued from Friday to Monday 2/17 House Travel, Recreation, & Wildlife Committee Friday morning and will head to the House Floor next week.
House Bill 129 - reclamation of surface coal mines turbine blades would allow the disposal of wind turbine blades in coal mines. The idea here is to allow the coal company to serve as a landfill, and the company would be able to generate some revenue from the disposal of the turbines coming from in-state or even out-of-state wind farms. Additionally, it would benefit the coal company because they would have to move less dirt to backfill a coal mine pit. We have concerns from a reclamation science perspective and are urging additional study and review before the state moves forward with allowing this. We are also raising concerns about compliance with SMCRA. The bill passed the House Minerals Committee Friday morning and will be on the floor next week.
House Bill 79 - Railroad safety would require trains and light engines to be operated by a crew of not less than two persons. The bill increases safety for railroaders and the public who travel across or live near train tracks. We support the bill. It has been referred to the House Transportation Committee.
Thank you for your engagement!
Monika Leininger, Shannon Anderson, & Robin Bagley (staff lobbyists of the week)
p.s. Many thanks to those that have already contributed to our legislative fund. We appreciate all you give to keep us housed and fed and to keep gas in the cars for the long drive to/from Cheyenne. And for those of you that haven’t donated, it’s not too late. We are grateful for donations of any amount.
p.s.s. If you do not know who represents you in Cheyenne, use this interactive website to locate your Senator and this interactive website to locate your Representative. Click on “Find Your District.”
Week 1: February 10-14, 2020
Greetings from Cheyenne! With over 400 bills filed, the 2020 legislative session has already been very busy for our issues. We’ve carefully combed the bill list, testified in committees, written amendments, lobbied Senators and Representatives on bill introduction votes, and otherwise worked hard this week to protect your interests.
But we need your help. With these updates, we encourage you to get engaged in the legislative process. You are the most powerful voice when persuading and educating your legislators on supporting or opposing legislation.
Please consider leaving a phone message, sending an email and even mailing your Representative or Senator to make sure your voice gets heard on the bills we list below. You can leave a message for your Senator by calling 307-777-7711, and messages for Representatives can be left by calling 307-777-7852 during session hours. You can also comment directly on a bill by clicking on the “Comment” tab of any bill linked below (available 24 hours a day) or by calling 866-996-8683 (available 8-5 M-F). You can even send a postcard or letter to your legislator by mailing to: Attn: Legislator Name, 200 W. 24th Street, Cheyenne, WY 82002.
If you ever have any questions or need more information about how best to get in touch with legislators or questions on a particular bill, please feel free to call our office at 307-672-5809 or reply to this email.
Here is a brief overview of the priority bills we have been tracking this session. We know it’s a long list, but we hope you read to the end and choose the bills of most interest to you to contact your Rep and Senator. Thanks for your action and your interest!
Bills to Subsidize & Promote Coal
One of the largest group of bills we are working on this session revolve around legislative efforts to subsidize or promote coal. The Governor in the State of the State address on Monday set the tone for the session when he said “we will not recklessly abandon our most abundant and reliable energy source just because it is unpopular with some people.” He decried efforts in other states to retire coal plants and promote clean renewable energy and called out “Well, not on my watch!” in response to arguments that the coal industry is in decline. Unfortunately, legislators answered his call to arms and have sponsored several pieces of legislation that seek to defy energy markets and put Wyomingites at risk of paying much higher rates for electricity.
House Bill 200 - Reliable and dispatchable low-carbon energy standards, sponsored by Representative Zwonitzer and eleven other legislators, seeks to create a first-in-the nation standard to require utilities to use coal or natural gas plants with carbon capture systems. Naturally, this bill raises a bunch of questions as no utility in the country is providing reliable and affordable energy at a plant with carbon capture. In short, the bill creates a regulatory mandate no utility can – or should – meet. The worst part of the bill is it allows a utility to recover the costs of using such carbon capture systems from its customers – up to $1 billion. Senator Case, the legislature’s resident expert on utilities, estimates HB 200 could raise electricity rates by 15% or more. For more background on the bill read this WyoFile article and look for an editorial from our own Bob LeResche in this weekend’s Casper Star Tribune. The bill will be headed to the House Revenue Committee next week, and then back to the floor. Please contact your Representative and ask him or her to vote NO on the bill.
House Bill 4, Wyoming Coal Marketing Program, sponsored by the Minerals Committee, provides $2 million in funding to the Governor to expand and protect Wyoming’s coal markets and coal facilities. But, in a Jekyll and Hyde fashion, the bill also has a dual purpose to fund projects that address impacts cities, towns and counties have experienced or will experience due to changes in the coal market. We are seeking to amend the bill to focus on funding for communities experiencing energy transition impacts. Our proposed amendment led to a good discussion in committee on Wednesday, but it ultimately was not sponsored. We will try again for the House Floor. Unless the bill is amended, we oppose it as an unwise use of funds that will likely have limited success in achieving its goals of expanding and protecting Wyoming’s coal markets. Please contact your Representative and ask him or her to vote NO on the bill.
House Bill 117 - Exportation of Mineral Resources, sponsored by Speaker of the House Harshman and several other legislators proposes to automatically divert a portion of coal severance tax revenue into a fund for the Governor to increase or stabilize the exportation of Wyoming’s mineral resources. The bill places a heavy priority on litigation activities, such as the recent effort to sue the state of Washington over its denial of a coal port facility. It’s a risky diversion and amounts to an approximately $12 million loss in annual revenue to the state’s general fund (the budget) and the budget reserve account (our budget savings account). We ask legislators to vote against this proposal because it will not create a return on the state’s investment and will rob government services that need the money and can put it to good use. The bill was heard in the House Appropriations Committee on Thursday, and after discussion and testimony from the Wyoming Mining Association in favor and us in opposition, Chairman Nicholas tabled the bill. It could still come back – please contact members of the House Appropriations Committee and ask them to vote NO on the bill. Here are the email addresses for the committee: Bob.Nicholas@wyoleg.gov, Mark.Kinner@wyoleg.gov, Lloyd.Larsen@wyoleg.gov, Jared.Olsen@wyoleg.gov, Andy.Schwartz@wyoleg.gov, Albert.Sommers@wyoleg.gov, Tom.Walters@wyoleg.gov
Senate File 21 - Coal Fired Electric Generation Facilities, goes back to the most controversial bill we worked on during last year’s session, Senate File 159, which set forth requirements for a utility to try and sell a coal plant before retiring it. This year’s set of amendments to Senate File 159 cover the issue of how a buyer of a coal plant can sell power, and essentially answers the question of how a new buyer can make money. The bill allows a coal plant buyer to sell power to a large customer (mainly an industrial one) in the same service territory. In response to concerns from us and others, the bill was heavily amended in committee to add in protections for ratepayers, like residential customers, left on the system after the coal plant sale, but we still believe the bill is problematic and too risky. As Senator Case said in committee, this bill “is a pretty major disruption of the utility model” by allowing someone besides a regulated utility to sell power. The bill will head to the Senate Floor next week. We urge Senators to vote NO on the bill.
Senate File 133- Electric Generation Facilities Operation and Retirement, also addresses the topic of coal plant retirement and forces a utility to jump through a bunch of new regulatory requirements before taking a coal plant offline. The bill preempts rulemaking being carried out by the Public Service Commission to implement last year’s Senate File 159– rulemaking that is the result of significant stakeholder involvement. We believe Senate File 133 is premature until the rulemaking is complete and urge Senators to vote no. The bill was assigned to the Senate Corporations Committee with a unanimous vote.
Tax Breaks for Industry
Bills to reduce or eliminate severance taxes for uranium, coal, and oil and gas abound this session, but we did have an early success in defeating a property tax exemption for sites that store energy production equipment.
Senate File 25, Energy production inventory exemption – SUCCESS!! First the good news – thanks to your emails and phone calls, coupled with our in-person lobbying work on Monday, Senators voted down a controversial bill that would have exempted property taxes on sites used for storing energy production equipment. The defeat of this bill was a much-needed early success!
House Bill 154- Severance Tax on Coal, proposes to decrease the severance tax rate for coal from 7% to 6.5%. This idea was defeated twice during interim session committee work, and luckily was defeated once again this week. The bill was not brought up for an introduction vote, causing it to die.
House Bill 231- Coal severance tax exemption-Canadian and Mexican ports on the other hand, this new proposal to reduce coal severance taxes has some legs. The bill reduces coal severance taxes for coal that would be exported through ports in Canada and Mexico. It’s an effort to promote coal exports, but unfortunately all it would do is decrease much needed funding for education and government services. Subsidizing coal exports by exempting severance taxes won’t make coal exports any more economical or technically feasible. The bill was introduced on Friday and assigned to the House Revenue Committee. Please contact members of the committee to vote NO on the bill. Here are the email addresses for committee members: dan.zwonitzer@wyoleg.gov, Jim.Blackburn@wyoleg.gov, Cathy.Connolly@wyoleg.gov, JoAnn.Dayton@wyoleg.gov, Tim.Hallinan@wyoleg.gov, Dan.Laursen@wyoleg.gov, Jim.Roscoe@wyoleg.gov, Patrick.Sweeney@wyoleg.gov, Cyrus.Western@wyoleg.gov.
House Bill 243 - Oil & gas new production, is, as they say in legislature vernacular, an “old friend.” With your opposition, we have killed proposals like House Bill 243 to give the oil and gas industry a tax break many times over. We need your help again to get legislators to understand once again that the severance rate is not the determining factor on whether an oil and gas well gets drilled and the only thing this bill does is take money away from schools and other government services. The bill was introduced on Friday and assigned to the House Appropriations Committee. Please contact members of the committee to vote NO on the bill. Here are committee member’s emails: Bob.Nicholas@wyoleg.gov, Mark.Kinner@wyoleg.gov, Lloyd.Larsen@wyoleg.gov, Jared.Olsen@wyoleg.gov, Andy.Schwartz@wyoleg.gov, Albert.Sommers@wyoleg.gov, Tom.Walters@wyoleg.gov.
Senate File 85 Uranium taxation rates, is another severance tax break bill that is back from the dead. It is no secret that the uranium industry is struggling with the lowest annual production levels in decades, but forgiving their severance tax bills won’t make or break the bottom line of these mines. Study after study has shown that severance tax breaks won’t increase production or create jobs because global market trends are the determining factor for whether Wyoming’s mineral resources get developed. The bill will be headed to the Senate Revenue Committee. Please contact members of the committee to vote NO on the bill. Here are the emails for the committee: Cale.Case@wyoleg.gov, Fred.Baldwin@wyoleg.gov, Bo.Biteman@wyoleg.gov, Ogden.Driskill@wyoleg.gov, Affie.Ellis@wyoleg.gov.
House Bill 91- Economic diversification incentives for mineral exploration is a doozy of a bill. The bill’s sponsor, Representative Miller, who just so happens to work in the mineral exploration business, wants to provide a severance tax credit for mineral exploration so long as the mineral is not currently being produced in the county. The bill has been assigned to the Travel, Recreation, & Wildlife Committee, which Rep. Miller chairs. Please contact your Representative and ask him or her to vote NO on the bill.
Landowner Protections
We are supporting several bills this session that will increase rights and protections for surface landowners and mineral owners.
House Bill 111 - Split estate act- measure of damages would improve how split estate landowners deal with companies looking to develop oil and gas on their land. The bill addresses long-standing issues of how much landowners can get compensated for impacts to their land when companies “bond on.” The bill is a much-needed common sense reform to help level the playing field and ensure surface owners get a fair shake when oil and gas companies come knocking. The bill was assigned to the House Minerals Committee. Please contact members of the committee and ask them to VOTE YES on the bill. Here are the emails of the committee members: mike.greear@wyoleg.gov, Donald.Burkhart@wyoleg.gov, Thomas.Crank@wyoleg.gov, Shelly.Duncan@wyoleg.gov, Danny.Eyre@wyoleg.gov, Dan.Furphy@wyoleg.gov, Bill.Henderson@wyoleg.gov, Bunky.Loucks@wyoleg.gov, Joe.MacGuire@wyoleg.gov.
House Bill 14 - Drilling units-risk penalties and mandatory royalties helps address problems mineral owners face in a “force pooling” situation (where the mineral owner did not lease his or her oil and gas but nevertheless gets pulled into a project because the resources become part of a pooling order). The bill makes some good improvements to help mineral owners. The bill passed the House Minerals Committee on Friday and is now headed to the floor. Please contact your Representative and ask him or her to VOTE YES on the bill.
Senate File 44 - Mining permit applications– objections is a big modification to the comment and hearing rights of landowners and other citizens concerned about proposed coal and other mining operations. On the coal side, the bill brings our state law into better compliance with the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) by mandating an informal conference before the DEQ Director to be held before a permit is issued. We’ve worked on the bill throughout the three interim committee meetings last summer and fall and have proposed amendments adopted by the Minerals Committee to ensure our state law retains its compliance with SMCRA and does not undermine the public comment and hearing rights of landowners. On the non-coal side, we’ve also advocated for better hearing rights for sand and gravel, uranium, bentonite, and other kinds of mines. The bill passed Committee of the Whole in the Senate. Please contact your Senator and ask him or her to require an informal conference or hearing for non-coal mines prior to permit issuance to allow the concerns of an interested citizen to be heard and considered before the permit is issued.
Supporting Our Agricultural Heritage
We support a group of bills that will protect and expand economic opportunities for Wyoming’s family farmers and ranchers.
House Bill 84 - Food freedom amendments, allows a third-party to sell certain local foods, such as produce, and certain baked and canned goods. This facilitates the sale of more local food in retail stores and other venues besides direct producer-to-consumer sales at farmers’ markets. We support the bill as a way to increase opportunities for our agricultural producers. The bill has been assigned to the House Ag Committee. Please contact members of the committee and ask them to VOTE YES on the bill. hans.hunt@wyoleg.gov, Stan.Blake@wyoleg.gov, Aaron.Clausen@wyoleg.gov, Bill.Haley@wyoleg.gov, Bill.Henderson@wyoleg.gov, Dan.Laursen@wyoleg.gov, Evan.Simpson@wyoleg.gov, Richard.Tass@wyoleg.gov, John.Winter@wyoleg.gov.
House Bill 142 - Agriculture marketing funds -processing plants, provides a small fund to assist Wyoming meat processing facilities in getting up and running. We support the bill as a way to get more of our good local Wyoming meat to market. Please contact members of the committee and them to VOTE YES on the bill. See emails above and you can send a single email about both bills.
House Bill 244 - beef checkoff penalty-repeal, makes the beef checkoff payment voluntary. This would be a good thing for our family farmer and rancher members. The beef checkoff program has had years of controversy and questionable spending and does not promote U.S.-raised beef. The bill was introduced on Friday and assigned to the House Agriculture Committee. Please contact members of the committee and ask them to VOTE YES on the bill. Here are the email addresses of committee members: hans.hunt@wyoleg.gov, Stan.Blake@wyoleg.gov, Aaron.Clausen@wyoleg.gov, Bill.Haley@wyoleg.gov, Bill.Henderson@wyoleg.gov, Dan.Laursen@wyoleg.gov, Evan.Simpson@wyoleg.gov, Richard.Tass@wyoleg.gov, John.Winter@wyoleg.gov.
Senate File 67 - criminal trespass, increases penalties for trespassing. Our organization has long-standing support for strong enforcement of trespass crimes. The bill has been assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee and will be in committee on Monday 2/17.
Addressing the Economic Impacts of Mineral Company Bankruptcies
We support a group of bills from the Coal/Mineral Bankruptcy Task Force that was convened in response to the chaotic shutdown of the Blackjewel coal mines last July. The bills fix some pretty big problems and will help ensure counties and our schools keep getting the revenue they are owed from companies in economic distress.
House Bill 159 - ad valorem tax payments, changes how counties collect mineral production taxes, creating a monthly collection system. This would put mineral production taxes on par with how we collect state severance taxes and federal mineral royalties. It would create a more timely and effective payment system, and limit the amount owed to a county when a company enters bankruptcy. This bill has been offered for several years now, but with support of the County Commissioners Association and legislative leadership, we hope this is finally the session it will make it through. The bill will be heard by the House Minerals Committee next week. Please contact members of the committee and ask them to VOTE YES on the bill. (See contact info above).
House Bill 182 - tax lien enforcement, helps counties move up the collection line when a company files for bankruptcy. Bankruptcy and tax law are both very complicated, so we won’t attempt to describe all of the intricacies, but know that it is a good thing for schools and our communities. This bill has also been referred to the House Minerals Committee.
House Bill 196 - transfer of mineral interests provides that a company can’t transfer its coal or oil and gas permits until taxes are paid up. This is a good tool for counties and our state to ensure a company can’t offload tax liabilities to a less financially viable company who likely won’t be able to pay. This situation has played out several times over in the Powder River Basin and tens of millions of dollars of tax revenue is at risk if we don’t fix this loophole. The bill was referred to the House Revenue Committee.
Regulating Renewable Energy
In contrast to the support for coal, some legislators are trying to penalize renewable energy with bills that also penalize electricity customers who benefit from the low cost source of power. There are also some bills that are trying to create a smart regulatory and tax system for large-scale solar and wind projects as more utilities turn to developing Wyoming’s world class renewable energy resources.
Senate File 125 - Electricity production standard – Success!! This was a revived version of a bill we killed back in 2017 that would have penalized utilities that generate and sell renewable energy to customers. Once the bill popped up on the list, we immediately went to work to defeat it by exposing its flaws in the press and lobbying against its introduction. We were successful and the bill failed to get enough votes to be introduced this legislative session.
House Bill 226 - net metering contracts expressly authorized is a good news/bad news kind of bill. Under current law, customer-generated (or net-metered) renewable energy systems like rooftop solar are capped at 25 kW. There is great interest in raising that cap, especially for businesses and local governments to be able to generate more of their own power to reduce their electricity costs. This bill allows greater systems by contract with a utility, but the bad news part is it requires a showing that no costs would be shifted to other utility customers. This would likely be a difficult standard to show. We support raising the cap but were concerned that if this bill moved forward, legislators might add language to reduce the payback of rooftop solar systems. However, the sponsor of the bill pulled it before it could make it through introduction.
House Bill 179- Electricity generation taxation creates a new generation tax on solar. The $1 per megawatt hour tax is what the wind energy pays now. We support policies that provide a return to our state from the development of renewable energy, but are concerned that the bill may create unintended consequences. We are supporting amendments that exempt customer-generated systems and ensure that the tax only applies to large utility-scale projects. The bill was introduced on Friday and was assigned to the House Revenue Committee.
Senate File 36 - large scale solar and wind energy facilities brings in large solar systems into Wyoming’s Industrial Siting Act by requiring a permit and placing restrictions on solar energy facility locations. It’s a long and complicated bill, and it went through major revisions in committee this week. We have been supporting amendments that ensure a fair playing field for solar compared to fossil fuel development.
Other Bills of Interest
There are also several priority bills that don’t fit neatly into the categories above, so here are some miscellaneous bills that are nevertheless important.
House Bill 74 - small modular nuclear reactor permitting is one of the stranger ideas floating around this legislative session. It would allow permitting a small modular nuclear reactor (which by the way do not currently exist in the country) at a retiring coal or natural gas plant site. Sponsored by Representative Miller, the idea here is apparently transition a coal plant to small nuclear. That idea has numerous technical and economic flaws. We oppose the bill. The bill will be continued from Friday to Monday 2/17 House Travel, Recreation, & Wildlife Committee Friday morning and will head to the House Floor next week.
House Bill 129 - reclamation of surface coal mines turbine blades would allow the disposal of wind turbine blades in coal mines. The idea here is to allow the coal company to serve as a landfill, and the company would be able to generate some revenue from the disposal of the turbines coming from in-state or even out-of-state wind farms. Additionally, it would benefit the coal company because they would have to move less dirt to backfill a coal mine pit. We have concerns from a reclamation science perspective and are urging additional study and review before the state moves forward with allowing this. We are also raising concerns about compliance with SMCRA. The bill passed the House Minerals Committee Friday morning and will be on the floor next week.
House Bill 79 - Railroad safety would require trains and light engines to be operated by a crew of not less than two persons. The bill increases safety for railroaders and the public who travel across or live near train tracks. We support the bill. It has been referred to the House Transportation Committee.
Thank you for your engagement!
Monika Leininger, Shannon Anderson, & Robin Bagley (staff lobbyists of the week)
p.s. Many thanks to those that have already contributed to our legislative fund. We appreciate all you give to keep us housed and fed and to keep gas in the cars for the long drive to/from Cheyenne. And for those of you that haven’t donated, it’s not too late. We are grateful for donations of any amount.
p.s.s. If you do not know who represents you in Cheyenne, use this interactive website to locate your Senator and this interactive website to locate your Representative. Click on “Find Your District.”