State officials have received no response to their bid on more than 1 million acres of private land in southern Wyoming, an official said Monday.
Michael Pearlman, a spokesman for Gov. Mark Gordon, said Occidental Petroleum has not reached out to the state since the bid was submitted in early July.
“I can tell you … that we have not had any communication from Occidental since we submitted our bid,” he said in an email.
The state’s top elected officials, meeting as the State Loan and Investment Board, decided on July 6 to authorize Gordon, Treasurer Curt Meier and the state’s chief investment officer to submit a bid for the land now owned by Occidental. The group was also given the authority to bid on 4 million acres of mineral rights also held by Occidental.Occidental has said other entities have expressed an interest in bidding for the land.
If the bid is accepted, it will signal the start of negotiations over the land’s actual purchase, Gordon and Meier have said.
The actual purchase will also be preceded by public hearings on the deal to be held at various locations around the state.
If the state decides to purchase the land, the money will come from its investment funds.
