A proposed project on the Seminoe Reservoir northeast of Rawlins would use water, pumps and gravity to store energy. But a conservation group is worried about the impacts to a world class fishery and is requesting an in-depth environmental study. The public comment closes Friday.
The Seminoe pump storage project would store extra energy from nearby sources like nuclear or wind. It’s the brainchild of rPlus Hydro, a private company, and has been in the works since 2019. It’d rely on the existing reservoir, and a new one built above it primarily on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land.
“You pump water from the lower reservoir to the upper reservoir, where you store it until it is needed,” said Matthew Shapiro, rPlus Hydro managing director of hydro strategy.
Then it’d be pumped out as hydro power. While not a new technology, energy storage like this is seen as a key way to make intermittent power sources like wind viable.
But Seminoe, which is a state park, is also home to wildlife, like sage grouse and mule deer, and it’s a popular recreation destination.
“This includes downstream the Miracle Mile, which is a world class wild brown trout fishery, and generates millions of dollars in recreation based economic impact every year,” said Patrick Harrington, Trout Unlimited’s Wyoming government relations director.
The nonprofit is concerned the project is moving too quickly through the permitting process. The project technically falls under the Trump administration’s ‘Unleashing American Energy’ executive order, which prioritizes domestic energy sources, including hydro power.
“Energy development and conservation aren't mutually exclusive,” Harrington said. “That is, in a lot of ways, the reality of energy development in the West.”
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) just wrapped up its initial scoping period, which outlines potential benefits and impacts of the project. Out of those, Trout Unlimited was particularly worried about premature reservoir dam failure, wetland and big game habitat loss and fish die-off.
“We don't want any damage that's irreversible or otherwise, to the Miracle Mile, to Seminoe Reservoir and the ecosystems that surround it,” Harrington said.
He’s urging the federal government to take a close look at impacts through an in-depth environmental impact statement (EIS), rather than an environmental assessment (EA) which is a milder study. And the project’s managing director Matthew Shapiro agreed.
“All concerns are valid,” Shapiro said. “As a developer, we want the agencies and the public to have as robust and scientifically-gathered a set of information as possible in order to make informed judgments. No shortcuts are expected.”
Shapiro said the project is at least two years off from beginning construction and the earliest it’d be fully operational is 2032. It’d create about 35 permanent jobs.
In the coming months, the feds will decide how deep to go with an environmental impacts study. Although, it’s unclear what that might look like under the new administration.
Currently, Pres. Trump is dismantling the federal act that requires these studies. Also, the administration’s mass firings of federal workers included the Dept. of Energy, which oversees FERC, the agency leading the environmental studies on the project.
Public comment on this stage of the project closes March 14 at 4 p.m. The docket number for commenting is #P-14787.
