Gordon: Wyoming energy poised for ‘rebound’ after weathering Biden policies

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Wyoming’s fossil fuel industries “have weathered the worst” under four years of the Biden administration, and now they are poised to rebound under President-elect Donald Trump, Gov. Mark Gordon said during his State of the State address on Wednesday. 

“It will take time to un-ring the Biden bell,” Gordon said, addressing the 68th Wyoming Legislature and guests at the Capitol in Cheyenne. “But one thing is sure, [the nation is] moving from an administration that demonized and obstructed fossil fuels to one that recognizes them as essential to our way of life, economy and national defense.

“He supports what Wyoming is doing,” Gordon continued, recalling his recent conversation with Trump in Florida. “The president told me, ‘Anything you need, Mark.’ That’s something we have not heard for four years. And I told the president, ‘Mr. President, Wyoming stands ready to drill, to mine, to shovel and to get this country back on track.'” 

Lawmakers responded with a celebratory round of applause, and while unified on this point, the Legislature hasn’t always embraced Gordon’s energy policies.

The Republican governor, now in the second year of his second four-year term, expressed confidence that Wyoming lawmakers will continue to support an “all-of-the-above” approach to energy policies throughout the legislative session that began on Tuesday. There may be a few challenges from far-right lawmakers, however, when it comes to Gordon’s rationale behind policy strategies for supporting fossil fuels.

Cracks in Legislature-Gordon energy alliance

Though both blame the Biden administration and an entrenched federal bureaucracy for stunting Wyoming’s coal, oil and natural gas industries, the Freedom Caucus takes issue with Gordon’s embrace of low-carbon technologies and especially state government support of greenhouse-gas-reducing efforts as necessary to support fossil fuels.

“His actions speak louder than his words,” Sen. Cheri Steinmetz (R-Torrington) told WyoFile responding to Gordon’s State of the State energy message. “It’s time to get Wyoming energy policy back on track.”

The rub is over carbon dioxide and the fossil fuel industry’s role in contributing to the climate crises. The divide between the otherwise aligned policymakers is evident in Senate File 92, “Make carbon dioxide great again-no net zero, sponsored by Steinmetz, a Senate ally of the House Wyoming Freedom Caucus.

“Carbon dioxide is a foundational nutrient necessary for all life on earth,” the measure states. “Plants need carbon dioxide along with sunlight, water and nutrients to prosper. The more carbon dioxide available for this, the better life can flourish.”

Further, the bill proposes: “The state of Wyoming shall not pursue any targets or measures that support the reduction or elimination of carbon dioxide, including any ‘net‑zero’ targets.”

Though Gordon has not commented on SF 92 directly, he has frequently declared that Wyoming must address climate concerns related to fossil fuels as a pragmatic strategy to keep those Wyoming commodities in the nation’s energy mix. After all, as a large energy exporter, the state relies on buyers and markets outside of Wyoming’s policymaking purview — whether Wyomingites agree with them or not, he has expressed.

Until recently, Wyoming lawmakers worked hand-in-hand with Gordon backing a shared vision and strategy for supporting lower-carbon fossil fuel initiatives in the spirit of a pragmatic necessity. Since 2019, the year Gordon became governor, the Legislature has considered at least 14 bills to impose and refine mandates to force carbon capture, use and sequestration at coal-fired power plants in Wyoming. Seven of the bills have become law.

But SF 92 would repeal those mandates, threatening cooperation from major coal plant operators in the state now in the process of analyzing CCUS retrofits. The measure, if passed, may also threaten Wyoming’s primacy over a federal permitting process for carbon dioxide sequestration — another major goal of Gordon’s previously supported by lawmakers.

Freedom Caucus members Rep. Christopher Knapp (R-Gillette) and Rep. Scott Heiner (R-Green River) co-authored a three-page policy document titled “Wyoming’s Common Sense Energy Policy.” Though it declares Wyoming leaders must “maximize fossil fuel production” and “allow for alternative energy,” it diverges from Gordon’s approach to lower-carbon initiatives.

“The state must divide two issues; Reinjection and infrastructure versus volunteer carbon sequestration at the powerplant level,” according to the document. “Wyoming will not mandate carbon sequestration or carbon capture for non-beneficial use.”

The rift between Gordon and the Freedom Caucus also came up last year when Steinmetz helped lead an attempt to defund the “energy matching funds” program of tens of millions of dollars. The program, under Gordon’s purview, supports public-private energy initiatives, including some grant recipients that propose low-carbon energy strategies that some Freedom Caucus members consider antithetical to what should be a hard-line stance against acknowledging fossil fuels’ contribution to the climate crisis.

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Last year’s defunding effort failed, but the issue may come back up during the winter session.

Gordon’s litigation strategy

Gordon noted that, under his direction, Wyoming has launched dozens of lawsuits challenging federal climate, wildlife and land-use policies, which include the Environmental Protection Agency’s coal pollution rules, the Bureau of Land Management’s sage grouse management amendments, its “methane rule,” conservation rule and a proposal to end federal coal leasing in the Powder River Basin.

“All major [U.S. Environmental Protection Agency] rules designed to shut down coal-fired plants are being litigated,” Gordon said. “Now is the time to finish those efforts.”

In the past, lawmakers helped enable such executive branch efforts by establishing a “coal litigation fund,” which is nearly tapped. Gordon on Wednesday noted that he’s asking lawmakers to rename the account the Natural Resources Litigation Fund, and backfill it with a $3.5 million appropriation. He’s also asking lawmakers to support funding for two additional attorneys at the Wyoming Attorney General’s Office to help carry out his litigation efforts.

“There will always be some differences between the legislative and executive branches — that’s natural,” Gordon said. “Here in Wyoming, I know we can work together.”