Natural Resources & Energy

The official non-profit of the National Park Service has set up a fund to help repair parks once they reopen.

The Bureau of Land Management is confirming that federal employees are back at work and getting paid to process drilling permits. Conservation groups are pushing back.

Two bills are currently moving through the legislature that would give the Wyoming Game and Fish Department more flexibility to manage the collecting of antlers on the landscape. Right now, people can collect them anytime between January 1 and May 1 in designated areas of the state.

The coal company Cloud Peak Energy filed a stockholder rights plan, more commonly known as a poison pill provision, with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week. It's a way of protecting management from a hostile takeover from a new investor. 

Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon asked the legislature's Joint Appropriations Committee to fund a $10 million carbon capture test project. Gordon said the money would be provided to the University of Wyoming's School of Energy Resources.

Following a bout of weak oil prices, state revenue from the industry is expected to go down dramatically, according to a Consensus Revenue Estimating Group (CREG) report. It predicts the state will collect about $67 million less this biennium than forecast in October of last year. The overall contribution of severance taxes, investment income and royalties are still forecast to be higher than in the last biennium.

Over the weekend, people in Wyoming took part in a worldwide rally against trophy hunting for the first time.

The public is getting extra time to voice opposition for proposed changes to an Obama-era sage grouse rule. The Bureau of Land Management is extending the deadline after some technical mishaps related to the partial government shutdown.

A Jackson Hole documentary filmmaker, Jennifer Tennican, is premiering her film "Hearts of Glass" at the Wild and Scenic Film Festival in Northern California later this month. The film follows the trials of the first 15 months of the Vertical Harvest project.

The government shutdown is affecting federally-funded climate centers across the country, including here in our region. 

Drought conditions are becoming more common across the West, and Wyoming lawmakers are looking at some ideas for how to conserve and replenish water resources. Last year, lawmakers failed to fully fund an $80 million dam project on the Wyoming-Colorado border, instead, giving about $5 million to try to persuade Colorado to join forces since ranchers there could benefit, too.

A new Executive Order posted Monday in the Federal Register is aimed at fire risk reduction. It prioritizes "active management" on about eight million acres of public lands. That's a catch-all phrase that includes logging.

Rural communities have issues getting fresh nutritious foods in the best of circumstances. But in Native communities, it can sometimes be next to impossible especially if you are on a fixed income.

Energy companies in Wyoming are offering programs for customers to switch to renewable energy. Customers can pay between $5 and $15 per month to make their homes completely carbon neutral. Partial plans are also offered.

2018 was a busy year for the Steamboat Geyser. The hot spring located in Yellowstone National Park erupted a record 31 times. Before this year, it was known to only erupt periodically.

Three PacifiCorp coal-fired power plants in Wyoming reported contamination of groundwater earlier this year above state or federal limits. That includes the Dave Johnston, Jim Bridger and Naughton plants. PacifiCorp reported detecting selenium, arsenic, lithium and many more polluting elements. A recent report from Earthjustice, a non-profit environmental law firm, drew attention to the information. It highlighted 67 plants across 22 states with the same problem.

Minority owners of oil and gas rights are seeing excessive profits from a certain practice, according to Gillette Senator Michael Von Flatern. He plans to introduce a bill that would limit some of the benefits minority owners receive in January’s full legislative session... specifically when some landowners with minimal property rights are draining oil and gas owned primarily by other operators.

Filings from Westmoreland show it’s taking a different approach to its financial obligations from other recently bankrupt coal companies. The coal company is seeking to default on nearly $400 million owed in pension funds, black lung claims and retiree healthcare benefits. Three other coal companies, Alpha, Peabody and Arch all passed along those obligations to re-organization debtors with value reduced in some cases.