Campbell County Commission won't sign letter of support for BWXT

Campbell County Commission won't sign letter of support for BWXT

GILLETTE — The Gillette City Council may be supporting BWXT in its application for $100 million from the state to build a TRISO fuel fabrication facility in Campbell County, but the Campbell County Commission won’t be sending a unified letter of support. 

BWXT has applied for $100 million in Large Energy Project Matching Funds through the Wyoming Energy Authority. The WEA has recommended the project for approval, but Gov. Mark Gordon has the final say on whether to award the dollars.

BWXT would match this $100 million grant with $473 million.

The commissioners talked about the city's letter of support at a county directors meeting Monday. Commissioner Kelley McCreery said the city’s letter made him feel uncomfortable because he got the sense that it was showing favoritism.

“It seemed to me they were favoring nuclear to the extent that it was obvious that the coal companies, the power generators, the oil and gas weren’t given, to my knowledge, any amount of money to start their deals,” he said.

“I would rather tell the WEA that I’m neither for it or against it," he added. "I’m not going to speak ill of it but I’m not going to vote for it."

Commissioner Jerry Means said he didn't feel comfortable signing a letter “after the fact.”

“WEA has made this decision, if they were really interested in our opinion we would have been told about this prior,” he said. “I don't like signing something after the fact.”

Although the WEA has recommended the project for approval, it still has to go before the governor.

“If I had it my way, I wouldn’t have the program to begin with," said Commissioner Scott Clem. But the legislature said this is important, they’re the ones that put these funds aside for these things…I’d rather that money come to Campbell County than stay in Cheyenne.”

For Commissioner Jim Ford, all the letter does is “make a real simple statement that we’re for private business, that we’re for energy, that we’re for money that Campbell County has sent to Cheyenne to come back here, to support diversification in our tax base, for new jobs, and for new tax revenue.”

In October, the Wyoming Energy Authority awarded $4 million to Basin Electric for a Front-End Engineering Design, or FEED, study for a proposed second coal-fired generation unit at Dry Fork Station. Basin Electric will match this with $4 million of its own.

The WEA also awarded $5.5 million for enhancements to the Integrated Test Center, to be matched by $16.1 million from the University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources.

This was through another matching fund program through the WEA for smaller projects. 

McCreery said he doesn't like how the money that makes up the Large Energy Project Matching Fund program comes from coal, oil and gas, yet it's not going to companies in those industries. 

"Out of respect for the people that paid into this, I’m not going to sit here and try to support people that are in competition with them. I will take my vote and set it aside. I think it’s already decided anyway,” he said.

Both Clem and Ford explained that the money wasn't specifically set aside for nuclear energy. 

"It wasn’t earmarked for nuclear?" McCreery asked.

“No, this was open to anybody,” Clem said.

BWXT just happened to be the only company to apply for the money, he added. If Basin Electric completed its FEED study and found that it wanted to move forward with a second coal-fired generation unit, it could have applied for this funding, he said.

Commissioner Bob Jordan said even though the money would be going toward a company that is planning to build in Campbell County, it's disingenuous to frame this as money going to Campbell County.

"Actually it’s not, it’s going to a private company," he said, adding that he was "not in favor of putting together a word salad like the city."

Thursday afternoon, Ford said he felt the county is getting into some areas where it may not have any authority.

“We need to stay in our lane and take care of things that the legislature has empowered and required of us as a board to do," Ford said. "We don’t need to borrow other people’s troubles.”

Although there won't be a joint letter from the commissioners, Ford said he’ll be sending a letter of support on his own.

Despite their opposition to signing a letter of support for the project, Jordan and Means both said they've had good conversations with BWXT representatives and have been impressed by the company's willingness to engage with the community.

Jordan said he’s been “fairly pleased” that BWXT has been willing to speak with the public and answer their questions. He pointed out that the proposed fuel fabrication plant has “nowhere near the issues” that nuclear storage has.

"BWXT as far as I have seen has been very open and willing to answer everybody’s questions," Means said. "That’s what I enjoy."

This story was published on Nov. 21, 2025.