KEMMERER — No one really knows precisely how many people might flood the tiny mining and fossil-hunting communities of Kemmerer and Diamondville in southwestern Wyoming in coming years.
If everything materializes, there could be billions of dollars invested in huge energy projects — and quite possibly a mammoth-sized data center — along Highway 189 leading out of Diamondville along the winding road past the Naughton coal-fired power plant.
Beyond Naughton is the Elko entrance to the Kemmerer coal mine, then open prairies where the pronghorn graze in roaming herds.
This is where Bellevue, Washington-based TerraPower LLC wants to build a nuclear reactor, and beyond there the joint venture project of Glenrock Energy LLC of Casper and Kanata America Inc. that has planted a flag to build a sprawling coal-to-ammonia plant on the doorstep of the coal mine.
The future of the mine is a big question mark.
It supplies coal to some of the trona mining operations coming to the region, and those already there, but future reliance is debatable given previous statements from operators who want to build cogeneration facilities for their power needs or even consider a modular nuclear reactor.
Cullen Pace, who worked at the mine for 17 years and is now a representative of District 22 of the United Mine Workers of America in Price, Utah, said contracts at the mine may end in 2029.
“With a lack of coal contracts and commitments, the mine could close,” putting out of work more than 175 union miners at the UMWA Local 1307, which has been the oldest active mining local in the United States for more than a century, Pace said.
Mike Memmott, controller of Kemmerer Operations LLC, which owns the coal mine, declined to comment on the mine’s future.
The Berkshire Hathaway-backed PacifiCorp owns the Naughton plant, and said that two units of the plant will be converted to natural gas fuel by 2026, ending its reliance on coal. The plant is expected to close in 2036.
Along the same highway by Naughton, TriSight AG of Sandy, Utah, has bought land to turn the prairie into a factory to process coal into organics for the skincare world. TriSight, which has deep pockets, also may now be looking at building a huge data center.
Sewage Limited
There’s one catch with talk of development along Highway 189.
There’s plenty of water, but the sewage treatment from these operations could have to come from the creation of a “special district” to handle the extra sewage, whether that be a new sewage treatment facility or septic tank system.
And the thousands of people who come to these side-by-side-towns of Kemmerer and Diamondville with a current combined population of just over 3,000 will bring their own sewage treatment needs.
Brent McClarnon, superintendent of the Kemmerer-Diamondville Water & Wastewater Joint Powers Board, said it’s conceivable their tiny enclave could need $40 million to $60 million to replace its limping 42-year-old sewage treatment plant.
The plant’s life should have ended after a quarter century ago but has been kept together through smart replacement of pumps and mechanical parts to keep it running along the Hams Fork River that zigzags through Kemmerer.
The water plant, located about a mile upstream along the river, can handle an inflow of thousands to the area’s population, plus it’s about 20 years younger than the sewage treatment plant, McClarnon said.
The energy investments along Highway 189, plus hundreds of millions of dollars worth of housing developers want to build in the area, are putting huge demands on the sewage system, McClarnon said.
“But we don’t have true targets yet on the amount of water and sewage to plan for,” said McClarnon on what industry is coming to town or exactly how much housing needs to be built.
“Say we plan for 9,000 (workers) coming to Kemmerer and Diamondville, we are shooting for god knows what,” he said.
The domino that could play a critical role in the future of all that is Kemmerer and Diamondville could rest with the Wyoming Department of Transportation.
There is discussion of moving Highway 30 near the Naughton plant and the Kemmerer surface mining operation to give the coal company access to more than 9 million tons of coal. The land with the coal is already under lease by Kemmerer Operations, but it hasn’t yet secured the minng permits.
A WYDOT spokeswoman wasn’t immediately available for comment on the latest in the Highway 30 move, which is said to be already funded with $15 million in seed money from the state, according to a Kemmerer official and McClarnon.
Contact Pat Maio at pat@cowboystatedaily.com
Pat Maio can be reached at pat@cowboystatedaily.com.
