Senators reject moratorium on wind and solar, pro-CO2 bill

CHEYENNE — A bill to “Make carbon dioxide great again” and another proposing a five-year moratorium on wind and solar projects failed to make it out of Senate committees Monday.

Senate File 92, “Make carbon dioxide great again-no net zero,” died for lack of a motion in the Senate Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee Monday afternoon.

Before meeting its no-action end, SF 92 sponsor Sen. Cheri Steinmetz, R-Torrington, told the committee that the bill would assert that “the policy of the state of Wyoming is that CO2 is a foundational nutrient necessary for all life on Earth, and that it shall not be designated or treated as a pollutant or contaminant.”

SF 92 also would have directed the state not to pursue any “targets or measures that support the reduction or elimination of carbon dioxide, including any net zero targets,” Steinmetz told the committee.

Further, the bill read that “plants need carbon dioxide along with sunlight, water and nutrients to prosper. The more carbon dioxide available for this, the better life can flourish.”

Katheryne Earl, an 82-year old resident of Goshen County, testified on Zoom that she has benefited from fossil fuels as a lifelong Wyoming resident. She said she has “great empathy” for those who have suffered from the downturn in Wyoming’s energy industry, including family members who have worked as coal miners.

But citing her undergraduate education in physics, Earl said she had to testify against SF 92.

“From the Industrial Revolution on, we have been pumping CO2 into the air,” Earl said. “We have enough carbon dioxide for our plants. It is not that we are reducing it. We are increasing it. CO2 and other greenhouse gases are causing climate change. It exists. It is happening now.

“Witness the fires we have had in Wyoming this last year, and in California. Carbon dioxide warms the air, the atmosphere, the ocean,” Earl said. “We are setting ourselves up for major disasters.”

Todd Parfitt, director of the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, said that CO2 is considered a pollutant at the federal level and cited concerns over how SF 92 could affect Wyoming’s primacy for air quality and water quality permitting.

“Greenhouse gases would be regulated by the EPA Region 8, as opposed to the state, as they are today,” Parfitt said.

Last year, Steinmetz organized a presentation in the Capitol from members of a national organization called the CO2 Coalition, known for questioning the reality of climate change. After closing public comment, the committee took no action on SF 92 and moved on to the next bill.

Wind and solar moratorium fails in a traditional vote

Monday morning, the Senate Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee voted 3-2 against Senate File 183, “Moratorium- solar and wind projects.”

Before that vote, bill sponsor Sen. Larry Hicks, R-Baggs, told the committee that even with the “extensive reversal of federal policies” prioritizing clean energy development happening under the Trump administration, state lawmakers must consider a moratorium in Wyoming to clearly understand the impact wind and solar energy development has had in the state.

“What we have been dealing with for a number of years has been driven largely by federal subsidies. Our friends on the ‘Left Coast,’ with their renewable portfolio demands, eliminating fossil fuels and moving in a direction that is unsustainable,” Hicks said. “The brunt of that has had significant impacts on our legacy industries.”

Hicks continued that he is a “free market capitalist” but said that the proliferation of wind energy across his district has not happened on the free market.

“Between states’ portfolios, federal policies (and) woke corporations, they are driving this, and they are sticking it to the people of Wyoming,” Hicks said. “It’s time to slow down and say, ‘Let’s analyze the ramifications of what is going on out there’.”

During public comment, Jenny Staebem, industrial siting administrator with Wyoming DEQ, asked that the committee place clearer language around “the starting point and stopping point of this moratorium.”

There are currently eight wind and solar projects in the pipeline that must be constructed by 2027, consisting of 787 turbines and 2,123 megawatts of production capacity. If SF 183 were to become law, Staebem said, those companies may have legal grounds for a takings claim.

Corporations Committee Chairman Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, asked Staebem what part concerned citizens have when it comes to the industrial siting process, saying that he receives calls from frustrated citizens who feel their concerns over wind and solar projects go unheard.

“Citizens seem very frustrated that they feel big impacts from development of renewables in Wyoming on landscapes that historically were open, and they worry about birds, they worry about antelope migration,” Case said. “I hear from them that they never get anywhere.”

Case said that he believes the Industrial Siting Council takes public comment into account, but asked Staebem to respond. Staebem responded that when she receives calls from citizens, she informs them that they do have a right in contested case proceedings to provide limited appearance statements.

“I encourage them to write letters, I encourage them to write statements,” Staebem said, adding that she also encourages people to attend hearings. But without taking that extra step of making comments through the official process, Staebem said calls and emails to her office cannot become part of the record.

Sen. Brian Boner, R-Douglas, asked Staebem if she refers people opposed to development to their county commission at any point in the process, where there is more leeway to deny a project than at the Industrial Siting Council.

Staebem said she does.

Several private citizens, as well as former Rep. Allen Slagle, who served House District 2 from 2023-24, spoke in favor of SF 183. Slagle said that people talk about the revenue wind and solar power generation brings to the state, but he worries about the cost.

“Wyoming subsidizes wind energy. We give at least a three-year moratorium on taxes on wind. It is also at a cost to our protected birds,” Slagel said. “I agree that we need to slow down and take a look at this.”

But for most of the meeting Monday, people speaking before the committee urged lawmakers not to vote for SF 183.

Converse County Commissioner Robert Short said his body is the one that should make decisions about local projects, saying that there are multiple projects in the pipeline in his area. With one solar project, company officials say it will generate 500 megawatts, and it is slated to begin next year.

“The chilling effect that this may have on private property owners — and their ability to exercise their rights to create revenue streams to help offset the costs of operating their ranches — is incredibly frightening to them,” Short said. “That is my job, to represent their interests.”

Case said the bill would exclude net metering, or small residential and commercial wind and solar users, under a capacity cap of 25 kilowatts or less.

Conner Nicklas with Budd-Falen Law Offices said approving the bill would send a message to the world that Wyoming is not open to business.

“We are a business-friendly state,” Nicklas said. “That is why companies come here. They think they can come here and get their job done, and not have the interference of the government.”

Voting against SF 183 were Boner; Sen. Dan Dockstader, R-Afton; and Sen. Bill Landen, R-Casper. Steinmetz and Case voted for the bill.

This story was published on February 4, 2025.