Wyoming lawmakers are once again trying to repeal state law that was once idealized as the way to ‘save’ coal. The state is the top coal producer in the nation.
HB 56, Carbon capture mandate-repeal, was unanimously passed out of the House Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee Feb. 11. Sponsor Rep. Chris Knapp (R-Gillette) told his fellow lawmakers that the law he’s trying to repeal was only needed during the Biden administration’s tenure.
“At that time, we were looking at a very different situation. I would call it, the woke yoke placed around our necks for energy,” Knapp said. “At that time, coal was in jeopardy and coal power plants were in jeopardy.”
HB 200 was signed into law in 2020. It requires electricity providers, like Rocky Mountain Power and Cheyenne Light, Fuel and Power, to study the feasibility of carbon capture technology for their Wyoming coal plants – an in-development technology that supporters say could reduce emission from coal production.
It was in response to the state of Wyoming’s coal industry. In 2019, the six-state utility PacifiCorp, the parent company of Wyoming’s top electricity provider Rocky Mountain Power, was planning to shut down 20 of its 24 coal units by 2038. Largely because the nation’s coal plants are aging and demand for coal has been waning, even under the first Trump administration.
As federal and other state policies tamped down on coal and market preferences shifted toward more environmentally friendly energy sources, Wyoming lawmakers feared what the repercussions meant for the state’s top industry.
In the six years since the law was signed, the utilities have put in the research. But it isn’t straight forward. The technology for capturing CO2 emissions from coal stacks is novel, and largely unproven on a commercial scale. So far, it’s yet to be proven economically viable, and just the research required of utilities under the law has cost Wyoming ratepayers millions of dollars.
Under the pro-coal Trump administration, Rep. Knapp no longer thinks the state requirement to research carbon capture is needed.
“I do believe it's time for us to release the yoke off of ourselves, self-imposed, and allow for energy to let the market decide what energy is best to use,” he said.
Knapp unsuccessfully tried to repeal the law in the 2025 session. Additionally, he tried to no avail to get the Joint Interim Minerals Committee to sponsor a similar bill this summer.
Each time, Gov. Mark Gordon’s office has voiced its opposition.
“I believe this is the third time I've made this request to this committee. And I'm not sure I've swayed any of you,” said Randall Luthi, Gordon’s policy director. “I'm always going to recommend that you just leave it alone. Don't repeal it.”
Luthi said that’s for a couple of reasons. Primarily, because Wyoming ships vast amounts of coal out of state. And regardless of federal environmental laws, those states have their own regulations.
“More than half of the states that we send coal to have low carbon standards for their power plants. They're not federal standards, they're state standards,” Luthi said.
Additionally, Luthi said utilities are still researching it. The law helps them tap ratepayers for additional funds to do so.
The Wyoming Public Service Commission (WPSC) testified in support of keeping it for similar reasons.
“There have been developments that seem to take the pressure off [of coal], at least for now,” said Chris Petri, WPSC deputy chairman. “We have come to view this [HB 200] as something of a hedge against those unpredictable pendulum swings in federal policy.”
Despite the Trump administration’s push to revive coal, markets still waned last year. Economists say it was the second worst production year since the peak in the early 2000s.
Ultimately, the committee passed the repeal, HB 56, unanimously with an amendment that would grandfather-in current carbon capture research projects. The bill will now go before the full House.
