Continuing the Crook County News Since 1884
Continuing the Crook County News Since 1884
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CASPER — A bill requiring Wyoming citizens to present specific forms of photo identification when casting their ballots in elections sailed through the Senate on Thursday and will now head to the governor’s desk for review. House Bill 75 would require voters to show certain kinds of identification before being able to vote in person. Voters would need to present one of the following forms of identification: a Wyoming driver’s license or identification card, a tribal identification card, a valid U.S. passport, a U.S. military card, a Medic...
CASPER — A bill requiring citizens to present specific forms of photo identification when casting their ballots in elections passed its first vote in the Wyoming House of Representatives on Monday. House Bill 75 requires voters to show specific kinds of photo identification before being able to vote in person. Under the bill, voters would need to present one of the following forms of identification: Wyoming driver’s license or identification card, tribal identification card, valid U.S. passport, U.S. military card, or Medicare insurance car...
CASPER – Executives of a bankrupt coal firm in the Powder River Basin received over half a million dollars in bonus payments in the year leading up to the company’s bankruptcy filing, court documents reveal. Lighthouse Resources paid 11 “insiders” within the company and its subsidiaries a total of $3.3 million, including at least $702,500 in bonuses, in the 12 months before filing for bankruptcy. These insiders included a president, chief operating officer, treasurer, general manager, two secretaries and four directors. The company also re...
CASPER — After a bruising year battling the one-two punch of the COVID-19 pandemic and collapse in energy markets, coal operators in Wyoming could receive a small boost in demand in 2021, but it may be short-lived. In 2020, U.S. coal production came in around 26% below the levels of the prior year, according to initial data compiled by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, an impartial data center. Residential and commercial demand for electricity slumped during the pandemic as states enforced stay-at-home orders and industrial activity s...
CASPER — When a company produces electricity using coal, natural gas or renewable energy in Wyoming, it needs a way of transporting that power to customers, both in the state and beyond. That’s where a transmission line comes in: The high-voltage power lines zip electricity across the landscape between substations, ultimately reaching resident’s homes. Wyoming’s largest rate-regulated utility, Rocky Mountain Power, announced on Nov. 19 it had completed a key segment of its Gateway West transmission line. This part of the line runs from a brand...
CASPER — Since peaking in 2008, coal production nationwide has been on a precipitous decline. Last year, U.S. production volumes reached their lowest since 1975, according to an analysis released Thursday by the Energy Information Administration. A decade ago, in the heydays of the Powder River Basin, Wyoming’s coal epicenter produced over 400 million tons of the commodity. Last year, the basin’s mines pumped out much less, just 267 million tons. Most Wyoming lawmakers and industry leaders have come around to admitting there’s a problem...
CASPER — In the midst of unprecedented volatility in the global oil market, shale producers in Wyoming received a small boost Friday in the form of tax relief. Gov. Mark Gordon signed into law a bill providing reductions in state mineral taxes amidst certain price environments. The tax break would kick in if the 12-month rolling average of oil prices falls below $50 per barrel. For natural gas, the 12-month rolling average would need to be less than $2.95 per thousand cubic feet. In these scenarios, the state’s mineral production tax — know...
CASPER — President Donald Trump signed a $1.4 trillion appropriations package Friday night, averting a government shutdown and saving health care for hundreds of retired coal miners in Kemmerer. Coal has been the critical economic building block for the southwest Wyoming community, where miners have labored at the open pit coal mine in Lincoln County for decades. They’ve contributed millions of tons of thermal coal to the nation’s electricity supply. For many miners, working at the Kemmerer mine was the only livelihood they ever knew. But l...
CASPER — The sale of two Powder River Basin coal mines owned by bankrupt operator Blackjewel closed Friday, leading the new owner to begin mobilizing furloughed employees after nearly four months of limited communication. The closure of the sale comes after the takeover firm secured surety bonds required to operate the Eagle Butte and Belle Ayr mines, according to a statement released Monday morning by permit holder Contura Energy. The finalization of the sale brings the nation’s fourth- and sixth-largest coal mines one step closer to ret...
CASPER — A string of bankruptcies have ravaged Wyoming coal country this year, as operators erase outstanding tax, labor and reclamation debts during court proceedings, leaving counties and taxpayers facing unexpected budget shortfalls. But state lawmakers have begun to investigate ways to mitigate the harm caused when mammoth coal companies spiral into insolvency. Meeting Monday as a select committee, the lawmakers convened with the goal of considering effective policy changes that could protect the state and counties from the outbreak of b...
CASPER — As coal operator Blackjewel LLC went to battle in bankruptcy court last week, another Powder River Basin company quietly contended with its own financial troubles. Cloud Peak Energy filed for bankruptcy in May and is one of six coal companies enmeshed in bankruptcy proceedings in Wyoming. The coal operator owns three mines — Antelope and Cordero Rojo in Wyoming and Spring Creek in Montana — and owes $400 million in outstanding debt. Even so, the company reportedly hired a number of workers from the closed Blackjewel mines. In the l...
