Posted inCity, Community, Energy, Energy, Latest News, Latest News, Local, News, Wyoming

Natrona County’s average gas price down 16 cents as nat’l price falls 5.8

CASPER, Wyo. — Gas prices in Wyoming have continued to plummet alongside national prices. This week, Natrona County’s average gas price is down 16 cents while the national average is down 5.8 cents. For the 10th straight week, the nation’s average price of gasoline has declined, falling to $3.21 per gallon Sunday, according to GasBuddy […]

Posted inEnergy

Black Butte Coal lays off employees Sunday

By David Martin, SweetwaterNOW ROCK SPRINGS, Wyo. — Nineteen employees at Black Butte Coal Company lost their jobs because of lowered demand for the company’s coal on Sunday. Further layoffs are planned to take place Thursday, according to employees who spoke with SweetwaterNOW. Steve Gili, the mine manager at Black Butte Coal Company, confirmed the layoffs […]

Posted inEnergy

Wyoming nuclear plant on track despite industry setback, developer says

by Dustin Bleizeffer, WyoFile Factors that led to the recent demise of a “small modular reactor” energy project in Utah do not directly apply to TerraPower’s nuclear energy project in Wyoming, the company says. Timing delays, forecasted cost overruns and a growing lack of faith in the effort foiled the NuScale Power Corporation’s plans. In contrast […]

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Wyoming’s coal plant carbon capture mandate may tap ratepayers beyond 2030

by Dustin Bleizeffer, WyoFile A panel of lawmakers has advanced a draft bill to give power plant operators eight more years to comply with Wyoming’s low-carbon emissions standard. The measure, Low-carbon reliable energy standards-amendments, would push back the deadline from 2030 to 2038. It would also exempt regulated utilities with fewer than 10,000 customers, carving out a […]

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Feds field questions about Wyoming’s first nuclear power plant

by Dustin Bleizeffer, WyoFile KEMMERER—TerraPower, backed by billionaire Bill Gates and the U.S. Department of Energy, plans to build the pilot “Natrium” liquid-sodium-cooled nuclear energy plant here, hoping its success will spur the deployment of Natrium and other small nuclear reactors throughout the nation and around the world. The next-generation technology presents myriad considerations for the Nuclear Regulatory […]

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Oil and gas leaders say electric rate hike would shrink Wyoming production

by Dustin Bleizeffer, WyoFile Despite long-term forecasts for continually declining markets, Wyoming oil and natural gas producers have enjoyed a reprieve from the financial devastation of the 2020 pandemic shock, with production approaching pre-pandemic levels, according to the state’s analysis. But industry leaders say a portion of those gains could be wiped out if Rocky Mountain Power […]

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Critics make case against utility’s historic electric rate hike

by Dustin Bleizeffer, WyoFile CHEYENNE—Rocky Mountain Power officials took the stand here Wednesday to defend the company’s proposed $140.2 million rate hike — a 21.6% increase that’s sparked fear and outrage among its 144,000 customers in Wyoming. The hike would come on top of a 7.6%, $50.2 million “fuel cost adjustment,” resulting in a cumulative 29.2% […]

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‘Wyoming is watching’ as historic electric rate hike hearing begins this week

by Dustin Bleizeffer, WyoFile A 21.6% electric rate hike request panned by customers and politicians as an unjustified threat to households and the state’s economy will be scrutinized beginning Wednesday at a multi-day, court-like hearing before the Wyoming Public Service Commission. The high-profile and historic rate hike from Rocky Mountain Power — the largest proposed increase […]

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Wyoming passes up federal funds to voluntarily close oil and gas wells

by Dustin Bleizeffer, WyoFile Gov. Mark Gordon announced this week the state will decline an invitation to apply for millions in federal Inflation Reduction Act funds aimed at shuttering low-producing oil and gas wells. The Mitigating Emissions from Marginal Conventional Wells program would pay the costs of voluntarily closing and remediating wells that produce less than the equivalent […]

Posted inWyoming

‘Conservation’ proposal for SW Wyoming would limit large energy projects

by Dustin Bleizeffer, WyoFile Undeveloped areas will be largely off-limits to industrial-scale energy projects — be they fossil fuels, trona, hard minerals, wind, solar or a combination — under the Bureau of Land Management’s preferred “conservation” scenario for managing 3.5 million acres of federal land in southwest Wyoming, some observers say. That’s primarily because the BLM’s […]