Kemmerer area residents listen during a more than three hour public comment period that occurred when the Wyoming Public Service Commission visited the town. (Andrew Graham/WyoFile)

The owner of the Kemmerer coal mine laid off 28 workers on Friday, according to a Kemmerer Operations, LLC press statement. The job losses, which amount to roughly 13% of the mine’s workforce, followed months of rumors of possible cuts in the southwest Wyoming energy town.

“The workforce reduction is part of its ongoing efforts to align operations with current coal market conditions, including those caused by the pending natural gas conversions of several coal-fired power plants in the region,” according to the statement. “[Kemmerer Operations] appreciates the contributions and hard work of the impacted employees, and values its long-standing partnership with the United Mine Workers of America.”

In an email to WyoFile that included the press statement, Kemmerer Operations President and General Manager Don Crank said, “No further comments will be provided.”

Employees who received pink slips will work until sometime in April, according to Lincoln County Commission Chairman Kent Connelly, who said he received a call from Crank regarding the layoffs.

Gov. Mark Gordon (in the cowboy hat) shakes hands with TerraPower founder Bill Gates on June 10, 2024 outside Kemmerer, Wyoming. (Dustin Bleizeffer/WyoFile)

“Everybody’s been watching what they’re going to do, so I can’t say that it was a surprise,” Connelly told WyoFile by phone, noting that rumors of layoffs have been circulating in the community. “They finally admitted it,” he added.

The company also announced Friday it was moving from three shifts to two shifts, which means the mine will no longer be a 24-hour operation, according to Connelly.

The commissioner said he doesn’t know who in particular is being laid off. Though the job losses are sure to hit hard in the small towns of Kemmerer and Diamondville, many workers at the mine commute from all over the southwest region, including from Evanston, Mountain View, Lyman and even towns in Utah and Idaho.

Multiple new construction and industrial projects are planned or already underway in the region, Connelly noted, including TerraPower’s Natrium nuclear power plant and a major trona mine expansion outside Green River.

“I hope they will get on with these other new places that will be hiring staff,” Connelly said.

The mine produced 2.4 million tons of coal in 2024 and employed 215 workers, according to federal data. It produced more than 4.2 million tons in 2017 and employed 279 workers in the fourth quarter of that year.

News of the layoffs comes in the same week that President Donald Trump renewed promises to bring back “clean, beautiful coal.”

Dustin Bleizeffer covers energy and climate at WyoFile. He has worked as a coal miner, an oilfield mechanic, and for more than 25 years as a statewide reporter and editor primarily covering the energy...

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  3. Heart goes out to these workers losing their livelihood. No doubt good people and their families are negatively affected.
    Some humility for those who were cheering on the loss of Federal jobs last week, and filling out unemployment paperwork this week.
    The WY alt-right has been openly lying to WY for a generation about fossil fuel extraction. Stable, long term, good paying jobs are with the renewable and nuclear energy production sector; WY could be a leader in those sectors, but we need to flush Gordon, Lummis, Harriett, Brasso and the rest of the alt-right down the toilet.
    President Clinton, President Obama, HRC, President Biden, Kamala Harris did not kill coal – emerging technology and informed Americans waking up to environmental damage ushered in that change. The alt-right and a draft dodging drag queen vehemently denied this change, and then presented a false picture of WY’s energy future to protect their short term profits. Now our state and our workers are suffering. Instead of positioning WY to power the West, we are reading about workers being laid off. We reap what we sow. Stop sowing lies, stop sowing fossil fuel and ag/livestock subsidies, stop sowing Christofascism, and start investing in the people of WY.

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  4. The current coal fired plant demise need not spell disaster; we can leave coal in the ground but extract the coal bed methane, CBM. In past, Wyoming has provided 25% of US nat gas use to US regulated public utilities.

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  6. I made a good living working in the coal fields, but with cleaner technology we just need to fall in line for cheaper utility, keep all these electric companys from raising prices the job market will come with new technology, and coal may be used in other projects but we must move forward with the times people think about our civilization if we don’t get rid of pollutants thanks all God bless

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  9. I’m a w.m.w.a. 1332 member and worked at kemmer mining and other mining companies. But now retired. What Donald Trump is doing is not right. The hardship and the miners and family’s have to go thru and its hardship and its not right

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    1. Jonny. Donald Trump did not cause the start of coals demise. That started under ex President Obama. Was hastened under Joe Biden with “Green Energy”. It will be 25 years before that nuke plant operates and provides enough juice to lite a single bulb.

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      1. it’s funny how Obama is still the boomer boogeyman. your comments further prove why the nigerian prince email scammers target our older and infirm populations.

        Capitalism and cheap natural gas killed coal.

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  10. In spite of what Trump promised, King coal is slowly dying. Denial won’t bring it back.

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    2. You are correct only about 16 percent of electricity in America trump can try but it will be used less for electricity as we progress in civilization

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