Three paths to a brighter economic future in Wyoming

Wyoming is a wealthy state. But that won’t stop some lawmakers from calling for leaner spending and cuts to public services during the Legislature’s upcoming budget session.

There is no reason why Wyoming cannot plan for a brighter economic future, even with declining mineral tax revenues. It has more than $27 billion in investable funds, including the permanent mineral trust fund. The Equality State also has the opportunity to add jobs and tax revenue — and remain a national leader in energy production — by leveraging its vast renewable energy resources. 

Taken together, the state has the assets and the enviable opportunity to make major investments in education, healthcare and infrastructure — investments that could improve the quality of life for all residents and set the stage for long-term economic health. Here are three ways to do it.

First, let’s get over the notion that only homegrown ideas will work in Wyoming and other state’s solutions should automatically be sent to the scrap heap.

Massachusetts, which places a heavier tax burden on the wealthy than the middle class, can serve as a model to close the income gap in Wyoming.  

Bay State voters in 2022 narrowly passed the Fair Share Amendment, which requires people with incomes over $1 million to pay a 4% annual surtax. Last year it added $1.5 billion to the state’s coffers, and several analysts expect it to grow to at least $2 billion annually by 2025.

What is the extra revenue buying? Many benefits and upgrades. In the past fiscal year, officials allocated $150 million to expand green infrastructure and school construction projects. Another $69 million has provided free lunches to every public school student in Massachusetts, saving families hundreds of dollars and keeping hunger out of the classroom.

Expanded access to high-quality childcare and early childhood education cost $70.5 million. Another $50 million is being used to make community colleges tuition-free.

Other expenditures: $205 million for Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority infrastructure; $150 million for construction and improvements to roads and bridges; and $90 million to expand regional transit authorities.

The Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy praised the voters’ decision to pass a “millionaire’s tax.”

“At a time when states are using temporary revenue surpluses to make deep, permanent tax cuts, Massachusetts stands out as a state that has decided to focus on the long-term growth of its economy and residents,” an ITEP analysis concluded.

The amount of revenue raised in Wyoming will be lower, and the Legislature’s priorities for spending will be different. But Massachusetts’ experience is an example of the revenue potential from making the wealthy pay their fair share.

Second, I recall a Casper Star-Tribune editorial board meeting nearly two decades ago with coal industry executives cranky about positive articles exploring the state’s renewable energy potential. Combined, wind and solar power had a small share of the national energy market, and coal industry officials assured us their product was still king in the state, and always would be. They confidently declared renewables can’t reliably meet the country’s electrical generation needs.

It was a strong argument since coal supplied more than half of the nation’s electricity. Wyoming shipped a record 465 million tons of coal in 2008, and together with oil and natural gas provided more than 50% of the mineral severance tax revenue to fund the state government.   

Wyoming produced more than 40% of the nation’s coal last year, but coal supplied only 20% of U.S. electricity generation. Renewable resources — wind, solar, hydropower, biomass and geothermal — totaled 21%.

This year, for the first time, the U.S. Energy Information Administration projects the total amount of electricity generated in the U.S. from wind and solar will surpass coal.

The Legislature has tried to save the minerals industry at the expense of wind and solar energy. The state enacted a law requiring utilities to make a “good faith effort” to sell unprofitable coal-fired power plants instead of converting them to use natural gas or as sites for renewable energy projects. The utility would be required to buy electricity from the new owner, increasing customers’ bills.

Wyoming is all-in on carbon capture technology to keep power plants from being retired. The federal government has poured billions of dollars into research that would keep coal mines open and extend the life of power plants, but the technology has never been commercially viable. 

“Apart from the poor performance of carbon capture projects, carbon capture in power plants has shown a track record of technical failures since 2000,” according to an Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis report.

Even if carbon capture and sequestration technologies are successfully developed, it likely will not happen until the vast majority of coal-fired plants have closed.

Instead of embracing the healthy mix in the “all of the above” energy development strategy championed by Gov. Mark Gordon to combat climate change while sustaining our economy, the Legislature tries to handicap wind and solar development with proposed higher taxes and threatened moratoriums.

Wyoming is one of the top 10 U.S. states for solar potential, yet the state is ranked 43rd for production, with solar supplying less than 1% of all electricity generated in the state.

“Society has spoken. That’s what this country is going to go to, renewable energy,” said Bill Miller, president of the Power Company of Wyoming, which is developing a $5 billion, 600-wind turbine farm to ship electricity to more than one million California homes. 

“It’s a project that contributes to the zero-carbon initiatives that we strongly believe in,” Miller told CBS News. “It’s going to happen. And this is the best place for it to happen.”

Wyoming should stop blocking renewable energy development, recognize its importance in fighting climate change, and quit viewing fossil fuels as the state’s only valuable resource. 

Finally, Wyoming continues to sock billions of dollars into savings instead of addressing the state’s healthcare, education, infrastructure and other needs.

Last year, Wyoming saved a record $1.4 billion, largely from unexpected severance tax revenue and federal COVID-19 relief funds. In his 2025-26 biennial budget recommendations, Gordon proposed adding $530 million in savings.

But Wyoming already has $1.6 billion in a “rainy day” fund — the nation’s largest relative to its general fund expenditures. According to a Pew Charitable Trusts analysis, Wyoming has nearly one year’s worth of reserves to run its government operations.

While saving money for future needs is sensible, especially since mineral revenues are expected to steadily decline during the next decade, legislators should defy the governor’s request for more reserves and instead focus on Wyoming’s current needs.

The Wyoming Department of Health used pandemic relief funds to replace most of the $112 million in cuts the Legislature made in 2021. However, that federal funding is now gone, and unless it’s replaced using state money, several critical healthcare programs are at risk of budget reductions or elimination.

The WDH requested $121 million, but Gordon pared it to $101 million. The Legislature has an additional $439 million in revenue available through 2026, but the governor’s budget doesn’t fully replace federal funds for some mental health services, senior care, long-term care facilities and disability services.

Wyoming also needs a stable source of funds for the Department of Transportation’s lengthy list of delayed highway construction and maintenance. The same is true for school construction. Meanwhile, the state doesn’t invest any money at all in early childhood education — an area that’s well established to produce the greatest economic return —  relying instead on the feds.

If lawmakers genuinely want to prepare for rainy days, saving billions isn’t enough. Wyoming needs to build resilience by investing in healthy communities now. Taxing the wealthy, boosting renewable energy and realizing worthy projects — from infrastructure to health care — are three ways Wyoming can improve life for current and future generations.