Wyoming News Briefs

Atlas Carbon, UW collaborating on coal refinery project

GILLETTE (WNE) — Ground will break soon on a new coal refinery demonstration project north of Gillette.

The University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources, Atlas Carbon and Wood PLC will hold a groundbreaking ceremony in September to launch the project near Atlas Carbon.

The site will be developed and operated collaboratively by the three stakeholders, with the goal of showcasing and developing — at a pre-commercial scale — a sustainable coal refinery process, as well as product technologies using coal from the Powder River Basin.

“Even as we work to protect the existing markets, it is encouraging to see the SER-led team innovate a process that could unlock new markets for Wyoming coal and support the diversification of the economy,” said Randall Luthi, chief energy advisor to the governor, in a press release.

Once fully operational as a demonstration site, the facility will showcase the possibilities of PRB coal to potential industry and commercial stakeholders.

“The main focus of this project is to create new markets for Wyoming coal,” said Richard Horner, the school’s senior adviser to UW’s Center for Carbon Capture and Conversion. “Diversifying the use of coal will create new jobs and new opportunities for coal communities, as well as create new manufacturing and conversion industries that can drive economic growth. We are thrilled that Atlas Carbon and Wood have agreed to be stakeholders in this venture.”

“The manufacturing plant is located near the Wyoming Innovation Center and has the ability and capacity to convert carbon into products, making it an ideal location for a field demonstration,” said Atlas Carbon CEO and chairman Frank Levy.

Foot found in Abyss Pool likely from July accident; no foul play suspected

JACKSON (WNE) – The human foot found in a shoe in Yellowstone National Park’s Abyss Pool Tuesday in West Thumb Geyser Basin is likely from a July 31 death.

No foul play is suspected, park officials said Friday.

Yellowstone officials didn’t say in a press release why they had tied the incident to the end of July. But they said the investigation is ongoing to determine why the person died.

Yellowstone has not identified a possible victim, and officials have declined to answer questions about the condition or description of the shoe and foot.

Teton County Coroner Brent Blue said that his team has “remains of a victim” from Yellowstone but did not provide further information.

Blue told the Daily that Yellowstone is leading the efforts to identify the victim.

Abyss Pool is approximately 53 feet deep, and its waters are approximately 140 degrees Fahrenheit.Humans and their belongings have a history of falling into Yellowstone’s hot thermal pools. At least 20 people have died from burns they suffered in thermal features after intentionally entering the pool or falling in.

In June 2016, a 23-year-old man walked off the boardwalk near Norris Geyser Basin and died after falling into a hot spring. He was looking for a place to soak, which is not allowed in Yellowstone’s thermal pools. An accident report released a few months after the accident said that extreme heat and the pool’s acidic nature likely caused the young man’s remains to dissolve.

“Hot springs have injured or killed more people in Yellowstone than any other natural feature,” according to the park’s webpage about thermal features.

Laramie County DA declines to charge woman in stabbing death

CHEYENNE (WNE) — The Laramie County district attorney has declined to charge a woman arrested earlier this month in a fatal stabbing, saying current evidence points to the incident being self-defense. The local sheriff’s office said it continues to investigate “with the goal of bringing charges” against the woman. 

Rocsand Bocanegra, 42, was arrested late Aug. 9 by Laramie County Sheriff ’s deputies after she’d been identified as a person of interest in a fatal stabbing earlier the day before. Bocanegra was held on a second-degree homicide charge at the Laramie County jail until just before midnight Aug. 12.

Anyone not formally charged within 72 hours of his or her arrest must be released, said LCSO Undersheriff Capt. Kevin James. 

The sheriff’s office identified the victim in the fatal stabbing as 58-year-old Jess Smith of Cheyenne. 

In an Aug. 12 letter to an LCSO detective, DA Leigh Anne Manlove outlined how Wyoming statutes related to self-defense did not permit her to charge Bocanegra at that time. 

Manlove provided that letter to the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.

“Your investigation established that Ms. Bocanegra told you that Mr. Smith was ‘wailing’ on her, hitting her with closed fists and ‘giving me his all,’ and trying to ‘maul’ her,” the district attorney wrote. “The autopsy showed that Mr. Smith had injuries to his hands, consistent with being in a physical fight. Your observations of Ms. Bocanegra were that she had injuries consistent with being physically assaulted. 

“Additionally, Ms. Bocanegra told you that she tried to push Mr. Smith off of her, that their encounter was ‘scary’ and it ‘shocked’ her, and that she was defending herself. She even went so far as to say that she just ‘wanted him to stop hitting me’ as justification for using the knife.”

Federal lawsuit alleges employment discrimination at Sheridan Albertsons store

SHERIDAN  (WNE) – A lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming earlier this month alleges employment discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act at the Sheridan Albertsons store. 

According to court documents, the plaintiff, Julie Watters, 57, started working at the Sheridan Albertsons store in August 2006 and remained an employee there for more than 15 years, eventually attaining the role of deli department supervisor at the store. 

In 2020, Watters was diagnosed with a disability that required her to use oxygen during the day while at work, and she requested reasonable accommodation to use oxygen while working, the plaintiff’s complaint states. 

Despite meeting with her supervisors and continuing to request accommodations, store leadership eventually indicated the only accommodation available to Watters was use of oxygen in her car during breaks from work. 

In addition to the store’s alleged refusal to allow Watters to use oxygen at work when necessary, the plaintiff’s complaint also indicates store officials repeatedly mocked Watters’ condition, calling her a slow, weak and lazy old woman due to her lack of oxygen. 

Watters claims Albertsons’ treatment of her and response to her disability was a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. 

In addition to requiring accessibility accommodations, the ADA also protects disabled people — or people with a physical or mental impairment that limits one or more life activities — from employment discrimination. 

Albertsons has not yet filed an answer to the complaint, despite court documents including a summons to the civil action. District court procedure requires the company respond to the plaintiff’s complaint within 21 days of service or a judgment will be entered against Albertsons. 

Albertsons corporate officials did not respond to The Sheridan Press’ requests for comment on the lawsuit. 

Nearly 5K gallons of fuel spilled in Yellowstone after tanker rollover

JACKSON (WNE) — After the driver of a tanker truck lost control, the rig rolled and spilled an estimated 4,800 gallons of unleaded gasoline in Yellowstone National Park early Friday.

The accident happened near mile marker 16 on Highway 191, which runs through the western side of Yellowstone near the Montana-Wyoming border, according to a park news release.

The release said it was unknown if any of the fuel had spilled into nearby Grayling Creek, which flows from the Gallatin Mountains into Hebgen Lake.

National Park Service crews responded immediately, the release said, and cleanup efforts are ongoing. No injuries were reported.

The incident remains under investigation, the park release said. For up-to-date road information, visit Go.nps.gov/YellRoads, call (307) 344-2117 for a recorded message, or sign up for mobile Yellowstone road alerts by texting “82190” to 888-777.

National group applauds lawmakers for voting records

LARAMIE (WNE) — America’s largest and leading small-business association issued its biennial voting records recently and applauded Wyoming lawmakers for being “true friends of Main Street enterprises in the legislative session that just passed.” 

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) grades legislators every two years in states across the nation. 

They most recently graded Wyoming lawmakers on seven issues that passed in both chambers of the Wyoming Legislature and were signed into law by Gov. Mark Gordon. 

“Wyoming was blessed to have the state legislators it did for these past two years,” said Tony Gagliardi, Wyoming state director for the NFIB. “They fundamentally understood that a pandemic-era economy is not the time to raise taxes or promulgate new regulations, but instead a time to see what could be done to help small businesses remain solvent. 

“In addition to battling every COVID-related difficulty still with us, Main Street enterprises are now contending with inflation, supply-chain disruptions, worker shortages and soaring gas prices.” 

Gagliardi said in a statement that no senator or representative had a lower score than 57%; 31 had 100% pro-small-business voting records, and everyone else was in between. 

He said this is phenomenal and has made him the envy of a few of his counterparts in the state.  He hopes the 2023-24 Legislature can do it again. The seven key issues considered important in supporting small businesses related to COVID-19, food freedom, student learner agreements, occupational licensing and property tax reporting and exemption.

Longtime Wyoming journalist Jim Angell dies

CHEYENNE (WNE) — Lifelong journalist Jim Angell died Wednesday, August 17, at Davis Hospice Center in Cheyenne, Wyoming. He was 64. 

Born in Spokane, Wash., on May 29, 1958, he was raised by his parents, Carol and Darrel Dean Angell, wheat farmers in Walla Walla, Wash. He graduated from Walla Walla High School in 1976 and earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism from Washington State University in 1981.   

Angell worked as a reporter at the Tri-City Herald in Kennewick, Wash. for several years before moving to Cheyenne in 1985 to take a job with the Associated Press, where he worked until 1998. 

He began dating Mary Shannon, then a reporter for the Wyoming Eagle, during the 1989 Wyoming legislative session, and the two were married on May 5, 1990.  Their daughter Amanda was born in 1997.  

Angell became the executive director of the Wyoming Press Association in 1998. A stalwart champion of government transparency, he lobbied the legislature to ensure open government and educated reporters and elected officials on Wyoming’s open meetings and public records law. In 2019, he received from the WPA the Milton Chilcott Award for his “extraordinary efforts to defend access to public information.”

As WPA director, Angell planned conventions for the state’s newspaper people. He not only scheduled workshops and social functions but also wrapped up each convention by leading a jam session with his fellow journalists, encouraging everyone to sing along until late into the night.

In 2017, the Angells formed the Wyoming News Exchange, a cooperative service for the state’s newspapers that continues today.  

Following his retirement from the WPA in 2018, Angell helped to found the Cowboy State Daily, an online news source, in 2019 and worked as its managing editor until his illness.  

He was preceded in death by his parents and by Jeff “Kong” Shields of Walla Walla, Wash., a close family friend whom Angell considered a brother. He is survived by his wife and daughter.

Arrangements for a celebration of life will be held in Cheyenne the first part of November. When finalized, details will be posted on schradercares.com. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Wyoming Press Association Foundation at 2121 Evans Ave., Cheyenne, WY 82001.