The Wyoming House and Senate went well into the morning hours and adjourned without reaching a deal on a bill that provides a severance tax break for closed in oil and gas wells.
The disagreement was over the price when the tax kicked in. Earlier in the day Cheyenne Representative Bob Nicholas feared that the legislation would let some companies take advantage of the state by re-starting wells and paying small amounts of severance tax money at a point where the wells are the most productive.
"So that means the greatest amount of our capacity to tax and draw money back for state revenues has just left the state. Basically we just loaded up the checkbooks of those companies and they're taking that oil and selling it someplace else and we're not getting any money out of it," said Nicholas.
House Revenue Chairman Dan Zwonitzer said the bill had adequate protections that will allow lawmakers to revisit the issue if it doesn't work.
