Daily Darwin

[{"type":"text","text":"\"Next time, I'm going to choose to just get crushed by the weights....\""}]

Darwin 2 26 24

Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>Daily Darwin: Monday, February 26, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

"Next time, I'm going to choose to just get crushed by the weights...."

Daily Darwin: Monday, February 26, 2024

 "Next time, I'm going to choose to just get crushed by the weights...."

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Wildlife

A Lovell man says he’s reasonably sure a bear he briefly spotted off Dayton Gulch Road in the Bighorn Mountains last week was a grizzly.

Casey Jones told Cowboy State Daily he saw the bear at about 3:30 or 4 p.m. July 2, and caught a video of it.

“The hump between the shoulders, that’s what got me to thinking it’s a grizzly,” he said during a telephone interview Thursday when he had brief service from the Bighorns.

His father, Levi Jones of Lovell, posted the video on social media, igniting a debate over whether the bear is in fact a grizzly or a member of the Bighorns’ significant population of black bears.

Retired Wyoming Game and Fish Department biologist Mark Bruscino viewed the video and told Cowboy State Daily that “I can’t tell for sure” whether the bear is a grizzly from the brief, distant clip.

Casey Jones said the bear is the first he’s ever seen in the Bighorns that he suspects is a grizzly, although he’s seen what he thought were grizzly tracks.

He added that he hasn’t seen the bear since he took the video or heard of anybody else in the Bighorns spotting it.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Reports Over The Years"}]

Rumors of grizzlies in the Bighorns have abounded for years.

Bruscino recalled getting reports as far back as the early 1990s.

“We had regular reports of them (grizzlies) in the Bighorns. And those that we followed up for we had no evidence or we confirmed that they were black bears,” he said.

Bruscino worked for Game and Fish for 29 years before retiring in 2013. He served as game warden, a trophy-game conflict officer and the large carnivore services supervisor.

The only officially verified grizzly in the Bighorns in recent memory was a sub-adult male 

 in April 2024. Wildlife agents killed that bear for preying on livestock.

John Baughman served as Game and Fish director from 1996-2002 and told Cowboy State Daily he recalled the department getting reports of grizzlies in unusual places during his tenure, but never a confirmed sighting in the Bighorns.

“There was one (grizzly) over by Cowley” in Big Horn County, he said.

And there were also frequent sightings of grizzlies near Ralston, in eastern Park County, Baughman said.

Grizzlies would also frequently show up in the fall east of Clark, also in Park County, drawn by ripening Russian olive trees.

“Those bears are crazy for Russian olives,” he said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"How Could They Get There?"}]

Bruscino said if the bear in Jones’ video is a grizzly it will likely show up somewhere else in the area and be confirmed.

There’s no evidence of an established population of grizzlies in the Bighorns, he said.

For one thing, numerous domestic sheep flocks are in the Bighorns. Grizzlies are known to prey on sheep, so there would be numerous reports of attacks if grizzlies frequented the mountains, he said.

However, it’s “not inconceivable” for an “occasional disperser" to wander into the Bighorns, Bruscino said.

Dispersers, or lone bears roaming great distances, tend to be young males, he said.

And grizzlies are expanding their territory across the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Bruscino noted.

“Expansion is happening. It’s happened over the decades, that’s obvious and documented,” he said.

As to how a grizzly might reach the Bighorns, there are a few paths that could take.

A grizzly could follow the Clark’s Fork of the Yellowstone River toward the Pryor Mountains and then keep moving into the Bighorns, Bruscino said.

“They could also possibly come across the Bighorn Basin undetected by following the Greybull or Shoshone rivers,” he added.

A grizzly might also traverse the Meeteetse rim to reach the Bighorns. Or one could also make a long circle around the Owl Creek Mountains, he said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Difficult To Tell"}]

Distinguishing a grizzly from a black bear can be difficult, even for professionals, Bruscino said.  

He recalled that members of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team would sometimes “send pictures of bears back and forth,” challenging each other to identify them as black bears or grizzlies. And sometimes, biologists would get the wrong answer.

Grizzlies can be mistaken for black bears when they’re wet because that can push down the fur around their telltale humps, he said. And a wet coat will also make a grizzly’s ears look larger.

Larger ears in proportion to the head are one telltale sign of a black bear.

He recalled an incident when he and another biologist were arguing over whether a bear caught in a snare was a grizzly or a black bear.

After they moved in to tranquilize and examine the bear, it turned out to be a female grizzly with a wet coat, Bruscino said.  

 challenging viewers to determine whether bears in a series of photographs are grizzlies or black bears.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Always Be Bear Safe"}]

Casey Jones noted that the area where he spotted the alleged grizzly isn’t far from where two campers, Shonna Kaye Dehl of Lovell and Maggie Bassett of Powell, were driven from their camp by an 

In an email to Cowboy State Daily, Game and Fish large-carnivore specialist Dan Thompson said the agency can’t offer comment on any particular video shared to social media.

He added that bear safety protocols, such as securing food around campsites, should be observed, regardless of which bear species is in the area.

Sheridan bear 7 10 26

<title>Distant Video Of Bear In Bighorn Mountains Reignites Debate Over Grizzlies In Area | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Lovell man says he thinks a bear he spotted off Dayton Gulch Road in the Bighorn Mountains last week was a grizzly. Casey Jones took a quick video of the bear and said,"The hump between the shoulders, that’s what got me to thinking it’s a grizzly."

Distant Video Of Bear In Bighorn Mountains Reignites Debate Over Grizzlies In Area

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's business and tourism reporter, Renée Jean

Renée Jean

Energy

A crude-oil pipeline proposed between Guernsey and Cushing, Oklahoma, is poised to strengthen Wyoming’s role as a key crossroads in North America’s oil network — even though it likely won’t move a single barrel of Wyoming crude.

The project, called the Liberty Bridge Pipeline, will connect at Guernsey with a project previously proposed by Canada’s Southbow and True Companies’ for a 650-mile cross-border pipeline that would carry an initial 550,000 barrels of Canadian crude daily from Hardisty, Alberta, to Guernsey. 

The pipeline could eventually scale to 1.3 million barrels of crude per day.

The Guernsey hub is an important oil and gas crossroads in Wyoming, sending oil to the Midwest as well as to Cushing, but much of its capacity for the Gulf Coast was already spoken for. That raised questions as to how half a million or more new barrels of Canadian crude arriving in Wyoming would get to the markets that need it.

With the announcement of the new pipeline, the mystery is solved. 

Bridger Pipeline spokesman Bill Salvin confirmed for Cowboy State Daily that Bridger and Southbow are teaming to build the pipeline and that it will connect with the previously proposed pipeline from Alberta. 

“Bridger and Southbow are going to jointly develop the Liberty Bridge Pipeline through this joint venture that’s going to be called Liberty Bridge Pipeline LLC,” Salvin said. “And essentially it’s going to be along existing pipeline corridors.”

The joint venture has already begun outreach to landowners and communities along the route, Salvin added. 

The decision to move forward with Liberty Bridge Pipeline follows a successful open season for the previously proposed pipeline segments from Hardisty to Guernsey, which was outlined in May by Southbow in an online media statement. 

Even though the proposed pipeline won’t likely carry any Wyoming crude oil, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have significant economic impacts for Wyoming and its oil and gas industry.

Salvin didn’t have figures yet for how many construction jobs will be involved, but University of Wyoming economist Rob Godby has told Cowboy State Daily in previous interviews that such projects are likely to bring in substantial numbers of high-paying construction work, long-term pipeline jobs, and higher tax revenues for the state from oil and gas revenue. 

“Pipelines aren’t minor,” Godby has said. “They affect the local economies for a period of time.”

The Rocky Mountain Express Pipeline, built in the early 2000s, illustrates the dynamic.

“That was a really huge gas pipeline to move Wyoming natural gas to the Chicago hub and beyond,” he said. “It had huge impacts on our construction industry, because you had like, literally, man camps that were moving along the pipeline, and hundreds of welders working on different segments.”

Significant tax revenues are also associated with such projects for the state and counties along the route.

The project also has knock-on effects for the oil and gas industry, Wyoming oilman, Steve Degenfelder, who works as a land manager for Kirkwood Oil and Gas, told Cowboy State Daily. 

“Since Wyoming has always had a disadvantage because it is farthest from the main marketplaces, any additional capacity to Cushing, which in turn has access to the Gulf Coast, should help Wyoming oil producers get higher prices, which also translates into higher severance taxes to the state and ad valorem taxes to counties,” he said. “A lot of oil from Utah is even coming to Guernsey these days, because the refineries in Salt Lake City are full.”

The project also bolsters Guernsey as a hub, Denver-based oil and gas analyst Matthew Lewis told Cowboy State Daily. Lewis is founder of Plainview Energy Analytics.

“The Guernsey hub is a major hub,” Lewis told Cowboy State Daily. “It’s an important hub. It’s probably the most important hub in all of the Rocky Mountain area, and this just helps with that. Having all that storage there — it’s important to be able to batch different grades of crude. They’ll have to likely build significantly even more storage at Guernsey because of this project and that will help Guernsey.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A Smarter Keystone XL"}]

The corridor from Alberta to Guernsey and then from Guernsey to Cushing does use portions of pipe laid for Keystone XL, which has had some describing the new pipeline as a revival of that project.

Energy analyst Kyle Bertamini, with energy research firm Enverus, describes the broader system as a kind of “segmented” Keystone.

“It solves a lot of the same initiatives that Keystone XL was trying to do,” he said. “But it’s doing it in a way that’s maybe less controversial and follows a lot of the rights-of-way of existing pipelines … making it a little bit easier to get some of the regulatory and necessary environmental permits.”

The new route differs from Keystone XL’s in a couple critical ways. 

First, it doesn’t go through South Dakota or Nebraska, where there was intense opposition to the pipeline from Indigenous and environmental groups. 

It also follows existing pipeline corridors, thus avoiding unfragmented agricultural land, which also became controversial for Keystone XL.

Liberty Bridge Pipeline will cut southeast out of the Guernsey hub, running through Colorado and Kansas to get to Cushing.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"With A Three-Part Build"}]

The pipeline is actually three overall segments. There’s the Alberta to Montana border segment, which is being built by Calgary-based Southbow, and there’s the Phillips County, Montana, to Guernsey portion, which Bridger Pipeline will construct. The third leg, Guernsey to Cushing, is the joint venture between Southbow and Bridger.

“That third segment is going to follow the Liberty right-of-way, which was a previously proposed pipeline project that has been canceled,” Bertamini said. “They’ll now build this third and final leg that will take the oil sands barrels down into Cushing.”

Capacity details for the Guernsey-to-Cushing segment haven’t been publicly confirmed, though its obvious purpose is to carry the crude oil from the previously announced segment, which will start with an initial capacity of 550,000 barrels of crude oil per day and can scale to up to 1.3 million.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Challenges Have Surfaced"}]

The project already faces some wrinkles. A coalition of Montana residents and the Montana Environmental Information Center (MEIC), along with Earthjustice, have filed a legal challenge over a waiver issued to a Bridger Pipeline subsidiary that allows the company to skip certain corporate financial disclosures, as well as the state’s exhaustive environmental analysis, which includes calculated estimates of the potential size, frequency and geographic impact of pipeline leaks. 

The groups said under law Montana DEQ was strictly required to advance public notice and host a formal public hearing before granting such a waiver.

Politics, rather than environmental protests, are the project’s biggest obstacle, both Bertamini and Lewis said.

“You saw (permit revocation) two times with Obama and Biden,” Lewis said. “They can just revoke or not issue — and then the project’s essentially dead.”

That has Southbow calling for proof that a U.S. presidential permit is “durable” before it proceeds with its partial revival of the Keystone XL pipeline, company executives said during a May energy roundtable in Calgary. The company plans to decide whether to invest by mid-May 2027, but has said it won’t move forward without some assurance that its permit cannot just be revoked by a subsequent administration.

A legislative fix, which strips the executive branch of unilateral permit power, is working its way through Congress. 

The Promoting Cross-Border Energy Infrastructure Act has already passed the House but is stalled in the Senate, where it requires 60 votes to overcome filibusters. 

Still, despite that, optimism for the project is running high, Bertamini added.

“From our perspective, this has a higher chance of moving forward than Keystone XL did,” he said. “In terms of momentum, the likelihood of the pipeline getting constructed is quite high at this point.”

Guernsey pipeline 7 10 26

<title>Second Half Of Smarter Keystone XL Oil Pipeline Proposed, From Guernsey To Oklahoma | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A new crude oil pipeline proposed between Guernsey and Oklahoma that could carry up to 1.3 million barrels of crude per day would strengthen Wyoming’s role as a key crossroads. A national analyst said Guernsey is the Rocky Mountain's "most important hub."

Second Half Of Smarter Keystone XL Oil Pipeline Proposed, From Guernsey To Oklahoma

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Crime & Courts

Nearly two months after 26-year-old Ashley Rose Jackson was fatally shot during a child custody exchange in Casper, many questions about what happened remain unanswered.

The Casper Police Department told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday that the investigation into the May 15 shooting remains active. Because the case has not been closed, police said they are not yet able to release investigative records or discuss additional details.

On the night of the shooting, police said officers responded to the 400 block of East 15th Street for reports of gunfire and found two people dead: Jackson and 28-year-old Ethen Christopher Short, the father of her 3-year-old son, Will.

Investigators described it as a domestic incident involving two adults who knew each other and said the alleged shooter was also found dead at the scene.

[{"type":"text","text":"Jackson's death certificate lists her manner of death as homicide."}]

While investigators continue their work, Jackson's family says they hope Wyoming remembers the person she was before the tragedy.

Cowboy State Daily also reached out to Short's mother to offer her an opportunity to comment but did not receive a response.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Devoted Mother First"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Jackson was born in Casper in 1999 and spent her entire life in Wyoming."}]

She graduated from Natrona County High School and, according to her mother, Shannon Clark, found the two passions that defined her life: her son, Will, and photography.

"She wanted to be his mommy more than anything in the world," Clark said.

Jackson built Wildflower Lens Jackson Photography with the dream of making family photography affordable. She photographed weddings, maternity sessions, newborns and even Rainbow Bridge sessions for families preparing to say goodbye to beloved pets.

Photography wasn't simply a business. Clark said Jackson hoped it would someday allow her to work around Will's schedule and even homeschool him.

When photography alone wasn't enough to pay the bills, Jackson went to work as a server at the 19th Hole while continuing to grow her business.

According to Clark, her daughter had recently gotten back on her feet after separating from Short. She had a vehicle, was renting a home from her parents, had wedding bookings on her calendar and was supporting herself.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"She was making her life happen,\" Clark said."}]

Clark said she still thinks about the Mother's Day just before Jackson died. Her daughter surprised her with a silver cross necklace while wearing the matching gold one herself. Jackson was wearing that necklace when she was killed.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"She was glowing,\" Clark said. \"She had her whole life ahead of her.\""}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'He's Not Going To Do Nothing'"}]

Clark remembers the early years of Jackson's relationship with Short differently than how it ended.

She said the couple appeared happy, looked forward to becoming parents, and celebrated Will's birth in January 2023.

[{"type":"text","text":"Over time, however, Clark said she noticed changes."}]

She described Short as increasingly withdrawn during family gatherings and later became concerned by what she believed was escalating behavior after the couple's breakup.

Clark recounted several incidents she believes marked a turning point, including what she described as a mental-health crisis, allegations that Short peeked through Jackson's windows and disagreements surrounding custody exchanges involving Will.

Cowboy State Daily has requested investigative records related to the case, but because the investigation remains active those records are not available for release.

[{"type":"text","text":"Looking back, Clark said one text message now haunts her."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I told her, 'Please keep your firearm with you',\" she recalled."}]

Jackson replied: "'Mommy, I will. I'm going to be safe. I'm not worried about Ethan. He's not going to do nothing'."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Final Custody Exchange"}]

On the night of May 15, Jackson and Short met near the Werner Wildlife Museum to exchange custody of their son.

Around 7:20 p.m., Casper police responded to reports of a shooting in the area of East 15th Street between Beech and Lincoln streets. 

Police have not publicly detailed what investigators believe occurred during the final moments before the shooting.

Clark said Jackson's father followed her to the exchange because he had a bad feeling but gave the pair some space. After Jackson arrived, he drove around the block before parking on Beech Street, where he could see the exchange from a distance.

After Jackson got their son buckled in his car seat, Clark said Short began walking toward the boy, and Jackson stepped in front of him, trying to keep him from reaching their son. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Clark said Short then shoved Jackson."}]

"That's when Billy stepped on it" Clark said, talking about Jackson's father. 

By the time he reached the parking lot, "it was too late for Ashley." She said Billy made it to his daughter moments after she was shot and witnessed Short turn the gun on himself.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Jackson's Legacy "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Clark said the greatest heartbreak now belongs to Jackson's son."}]

She said Will witnessed the shooting and has since reenacted what happened while trying to make sense of it.

During the Fourth of July holiday, Clark said every firecracker caused him to jump because he believed he was hearing gunshots.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"The quiet moments are the hardest,\" Clark said."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Today, Will lives with his grandparents."}]

Clark said raising him the way Jackson wanted has become her family's mission.

Friends and relatives are organizing a memorial golf scramble to benefit Will, and the family hopes to hold a candlelight vigil later this year when Jackson's oldest brother returns to Wyoming.

, a nonprofit initiative she said is being launched by Jackson's brother, Spencer, and family friend Shane Liberda. The organization plans to transform firearms connected to violent crimes into a source of hope by using proceeds to help victims of violence. Jackson and Will are expected to become the organization's first beneficiaries.

 to help provide long-term financial support for Will as he grows up without his parents.

For Clark, though, Jackson's legacy isn't measured by memorials or fundraisers.

It's measured every morning when a little boy wakes up in his grandparents' home.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I'm raising her son the way she would want,\" Clark said. "}]

Ashley Rose Jackson 103978617 1779381730937021 r 7 9 26

<title>‘Quiet Moments Are The Hardest,’ Mom Says Of Casper Woman Killed By Ex-Boyfriend | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Two months after a Casper woman was killed during a child custody exchange with her ex-boyfriend, her mother says she wants people to know who her daughter was. "The quiet moments are the hardest," she said. "She had her whole life ahead of her."

‘Quiet Moments Are The Hardest,’ Mom Says Of Casper Woman Killed By Ex-Boyfriend

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's general assignment reporter, Clair McFarland.

Clair McFarland

Government & Politics

Politics

Wyoming’s lone U.S. House representative is demanding answers from Mark Zuckerberg on a Cheyenne-area data center 

 that caused the city’s reuse system to shut down for months.

The Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities (BOPU) issued a public notice June 26 that laboratory staff identified a bacterium, Cupriavaidus gilardii, in a wastewater sampling.

The board on July 2 identified the source of the initial contamination as Goat System LLC — a Meta ​data center company in the development known as Project Cosmo.

That public announcement about the contamination came more than four months after the Meta contractor — which is building an $800 million data center in south Cheyenne — disrupted the city’s reclaimed wastewater system with the rare bacterial contaminant.

The board had revoked Goat Systems’ industrial discharge privileges for fill-and-flush operations, and Cheyenne’s reuse water system was taken offline.

U.S. House Rep. Harriet Hageman demanded answers in a Thursday letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

“Many are rightfully concerned about high water consumption rates by data centers in our communities where every drop of water is accounted for and needed,” wrote Hageman, “so I am even more concerned that this contamination seemingly came from your facility’s closed-loop cooling system, a technology that is marketed as being a solution to high data center water consumption rates.”

Hageman added that, “Many Wyomingites are also rightfully concerned that they learned about this contamination on June 26 and that the Meta Cheyenne facility was identified as the culprit on July 2nd, when the discharge privileges for Goat Systems was revoked on March 24th.”

New industries seeking to enter small-community Wyoming life can only do so with support from local communities, wrote Hageman, “which is earned built on trust, collaboration and communication with our citizens.

“I am deeply concerned that Meta did not follow this model in this instance.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"She poses five questions to Zuckerberg:"}]

• How did the contamination happen, including from the closed-loop cooling system — and had that happened elsewhere?

• When did the project companies and contractors learn of the issue and what steps did they take to alert the local, state and federal authorities and mitigate the threat?

• Where is the facility taking its wastewater now, and how will that prevent threats to Wyoming communities?

[{"type":"text","text":"• Does Meta plan community outreach on this incident?"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"• Can closed-loop cooling systems scale down water consumption safely?"}]

Hageman concluded, “Wyoming deserves information and consultation from the industries which plan to call our state home.”

A Meta spokesperson in a Thursday email reiterated the company's earlier statement on the contamination. 

"Meta is supporting the efforts of our general contractor, Fortis, to resolve this issue with the City of Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities," the statement says. "When the board shared that it found a substance in the city's wastewater — not public drinking water — Fortis immediately stopped discharging industrial wastewater and began hauling it offsite. Fortis also began its own water testing with an independent environmental specialist which has found no trace of the substance."

The statement concludes, "Meta is committed to being a good neighbor in Cheyenne, including through the protection of local water resources, and will continue encouraging collaboration between Fortis and the board until this situation is resolved.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Unpleasant Surprise'"}]

The delay between the contamination and making it public 

Cheyenne City Councilman Pete Laybourn told Cowboy State Daily last week that learning the contamination originated from Meta's data center was unwelcome news.

"It's a very, very unpleasant surprise," Laybourn said. "I have a lot yet to learn. It definitely complicates matters."

Laybourn said he has already expressed concerns about some of the arrangements the city has made with data center operators, adding that he expects the disclosure will prompt additional discussion.

"It's about the last thing we need right now," he said. "But it's a reality we're going to have to work through.”

"I think it's a disappointment to everyone involved," he told Cowboy State Daily.

Collins also praised the BOPU for catching the contamination and getting the city's sewage reuse system cleaned up. 

Hageman and Zuckerberg 7 9 26

<title>Hageman Demands Answers From Zuckerberg About Cheyenne Data Center Contamination | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Wyoming U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman in a Thursday letter is demanding answers from Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg about how its Cheyenne data center contaminated the city’s wastewater system. “I am deeply concerned,” she wrote.

Daily Darwin: Monday, February 26, 2024

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