As a pair of controversial Wyoming wind and solar projects continue to move through the state approval process, the company behind it all said it’s bringing more than $1.7 billion in private investment to the state while opponents are planning field trips to proposed project sites intent at halting them.
The State Board of Land Commissioners voted 4-1 to approve the leasing of state land during its April meeting in support of the two projects known as Pronghorn in Converse County and Sidewinder in Niobrara County.
Both still need the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality’s Industrial Siting Division and Siting Council to sign off on them.
But Focus Clean Energy, the company behind the ambitious plan to use wind and solar to produce “green” hydrogen jet fuel, is already paying on the leases with the revenue supporting public education in Wyoming.
Now, just as the five Land Board members saw division in its ranks during the April meeting, Wyoming Republican Party members are watching divides form over the projects.
There’s a rift among Wyoming Republicans over energy subsidies and whether wind and solar development comes at the expense of oil and gas.
Supporters of the project brush off those criticisms, pointing out all the subsidies heaped upon the oil and gas industry for the last 100 years in Wyoming.
"Those that are telling us that it is ‘either-or’ are presenting a false choice,” Paul Martin, president of Focus Clean Energy, told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday. “We are not competing with oil and gas any more than a new oil well would be. We are just trying to add to the American energy supply and promote energy dominance in the U.S."
There are many hurdles the two projects must still clear, said Martin, who makes frequent trips up to Wyoming from his company headquarters in Colorado.
“We've just been putting our nose to the grindstone, trying to work with the local, regulators and state regulators to advance the project,” said Martin. “We've got a ton of environmental and cultural and other studies that we need to get done, in order to move into permitting. So we've got a lot of work ahead.”
Alongside the work by DEQ, the debate over these projects and the future of hydrogen development in Wyoming continues, with a range of opinions extending from downtown Glenrock to the halls of Congress.
‘Green’ Hydrogen Numbers
Focus Clean Energy plans to combine water, captured carbon dioxide and a lot of electricity to produce hydrogen jet fuel.
“We are using electricity that otherwise would not come into existence,” said Martin, explaining how wind turbines and solar arrays sited on a mix of state and private land will be dedicated to hydrogen jet fuel production.
“We're processing it into hydrogen and then we're adding CO2 to that hydrogen — collected CO2 to create synthetic fuels,” he said. “So two extra layers of economic activity inside of the state of Wyoming.”
At the Sidewinder project near Lusk, the community can expect an estimated 338 new jobs.
“The total taxes paid over the 35-year project span is to be estimated at $931 million; $706 will go to Niobrara County and Wyoming schools,” according to information provided by Focus Clean Energy. “The state of Wyoming estimated revenue is $224 million.”
The Pronghorn project in Converse County is larger, representing $1.7 billion in private investment and is expected to bring 107 total jobs to Converse County, with an estimated $10 million per year total labor income for the project.
“The total taxes estimated to be paid over the 35-year life project is a total of $471 million — $144 million to the dtate of Wyoming and $327 million to Converse County,” according to company estimates.
Focus Clean Energy is now paying on leases for the projects. One private land owner is involved in Converse County, along with “a handful” of landowners in Niobrara County.
“We're talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of payments thus far, and millions of dollars worth of payments in the near future,” said Martin. “And then tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dollars worth of payments over the lifetime of the project.”
Land Board Support
When the State Board of Land Commissioners met last month and approved the Focus Clean Energy leases, Wyoming State Auditor Kristi Racines said the Pronghorn and Sidewinder projects met her balancing test for appropriate, revenue-generating activities on state lands.
“We don't give them the right to put up a wind project. We give them the right to purchase the opportunity,” Racines told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday.
Racines is joined on the Land Board by Gov. Mark Gordon, Treasurer Curt Meier, Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder and Secretary of State Chuck Gray, who cast the lone no vote against Focus Clean Energy’s plans.
Racines said she doesn’t dismiss concerns raised by opponents like Gray.
“They're legitimate. They're absolutely questions that should be asked and should be fleshed out,” said Racines. “We are far from the final word on this stuff.”
Like Racines, Degenfelder voted to allow the Focus Clean Energy projects to proceed because she said it would violate the Land Board’s fiduciary duty to do otherwise.
“I come from a multigenerational line of Wyoming ranchers and have spent years working in the oil and gas industry,” Degenfelder told Cowboy State Daily. “I do not like wind development and believe it's time to end the federal subsidies that support it. But I am also unabashedly pro-private property rights and pro-development.”
“We have a fiduciary duty to ensure Wyoming's state lands generate revenue for the schools,” continued Degenfelder, who said blocking the Pronghorn and Sidewinder projects would have been, “Just like what liberal environmentalists do to oppose oil and gas development. As long as I have a voice, Wyoming will be open for business.”
Governor Chimes In
In a statement to Cowboy State Daily on Thursday, Gordon echoed the “open for business” theme and responded directly to outspoken criticisms from a pair of legislators, Rep. Kevin Campbell, R-Glenrock, and Rep. Tomi Strock, R-Douglas.
Gordon said he was in Lusk on Wednesday and the Sidewinder project in Niobrara County came up in conversation.
“At the school there were good questions asked by the students and thoughtful conversations about this very issue,” said Gordon. “It is clearly an important topic in the area.
“What I find fascinating is that in a state eager to roll back government overreach, there are legislators and others who are turning to the government to suppress the private property rights of their neighbors. There is an irony here.”
Gordon explained his support for the Pronghorn and Sidewinder as a reflection of his support for private property rights.
“As the proposal includes both private and state land,” said Gordon. “We must also recognize the economic benefits of the project, particularly in Niobrara County, which will see a significant increase in tax revenues from it.”
Underlining his point about the significant role private property owners are playing in these projects, the governor noted, “The state land portion of Pronghorn is about 30% of the total project, on Sidewinder the state land portion is about 20% of the total project.”
“The state lease provides for an increasing sliding scale lease payments should the project move forward,” he added. “The state land board did not authorize any portion of the hydrogen project on state lands. In addition, current state leaseholders — those holding grazing leases — signed a consent form to allow the turbines to be built on the leased land.”
Opposition Organizing
Rep. Campbell is busy planning field trips and lobbying his fellow legislators to join opponents of the Pronghorn and Sidewinder projects. He’s planning tours out onto the landscape, insisting historic Oregon Trail sites and the mountain scenery outside Douglas and Glenrock are at stake.
“Tourism is Wyoming's number two revenue generator. That's $5 billion, maybe. That's what Wyoming is known for,” said Campbell. “People come to Wyoming, see wildlife in the mountains. It's relaxing, it's enjoyable, it's beautiful. And when you drive I-25, which is a major corridor going to Yellowstone National Park, you look up to that mountain range all the way. It’s beautiful.”
In addition to voicing concerns about turbines blocking scenic views of the mountains and the water use required by the projects, Campbell pitched the idea of producing hydrogen fuel using “turquoise” hydrogen derived from methane instead of water.
Campbell said it would be cheaper and conserve Wyoming water.
Martin, at Focus Clean Energy, said he also supports the idea but not to the exclusion of his plans to develop “green” hydrogen.
“The turquoise hydrogen folks, they should be able to implement their business plan,” said Martin.
Biggest Critic
During the April 3 Land Board meeting, Gray offered outspoken opposition to what he describes as the “zero green agenda” of those developing wind and solar.
“I was the only member of the State Board of Land Commissioners to oppose these boondoggle leases,” Gray told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday. “These projects serve as nothing more than a front for the Bill Gates-style of green energy — net negative, boondoggle projects dependent on subsidies and tax credits of left-wing governments to stay afloat.”
Gray went on to criticize “Gordon and his allies” for promoting projects that, in his assessment, run counter the priorities of the Trump administration.
“It’s deeply troubling that Mark Gordon has made a name for himself at Harvard advertising Wyoming for sale to attract these ‘net negative’ projects over the objections of Wyomingites,” said Gray, referring to a 2023 visit Gordon made to the Ivy League university.
“With a new Trump administration only beginning to roll these left-wing subsidies and tax credits back, why on earth would Wyoming be hopping into bed with woke, environmental, social and governance-based companies driven not by free market forces, but by the Green New Deal agenda?” he said.
Taking this message on the road, Gray said he’s hosting a town hall meeting at 2 p.m. at the Niobrara County Fairgrounds on May 21.
Two Cents From D.C.
While supporting the Trump administration’s “unleashing” of domestic energy, the Wyoming delegation in Washington offered varying takes on the debate over the Pronghorn and Sidewinder projects.
U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis served as Wyoming’s treasurer before ascending to Congress, and during that time she was a member of the Wyoming State Board of Land Commissioners.
But she hasn’t reviewed these specific projects, said Joe Jackson, a senior communications advisor to Lummis.
“She remains focused on promoting Wyoming's baseload energy sources that provide good paying jobs, lower costs for families, and energy independence for our country,” said Jackson.
A statement from Sen. John Barrasso touched more on the position promoted by Gordon.
“Wyoming has always supported an all-of-the above strategy for energy. We are the energy breadbasket of the nation,” said Barrasso. “The decision to approve, site and build specific projects should be left to the state and local stakeholders, not the federal government.”
When home from D.C., Rep. Harriet Hageman is telling those local stakeholders to be wary.
"This green boondoggle has created an environment to incentivize the use of turbines and solar panels that do not produce near enough energy to provide base load power, cannot be recycled, and disrupt wildlife,” offered Hageman in a statement to Cowboy State Daily.
“The unit of land necessary to produce one unit of energy for these types of projects should disqualify them from the start,” said Hageman, describing how she sees the current marketplace for Wyoming energy.
“We will use more electricity tomorrow than we used today,” said Hageman. “We have abundant resources in Wyoming and across the nation to meet our power needs but production has been bastardized by the green incentives the left created that have only proven to waste taxpayer dollars, inhibit production of reliable energy, and misdirect capital away from maintaining and expanding our tried-and-true infrastructure."
Martin, the president of Focus Clean Energy and the man steering potentially billions in capital toward Converse and Niobrara counties, sees a future when “green” hydrogen jet fuel created using wind and solar power will thrive as one of Wyoming’s many energy exports.
“This is the manufacturing activity that Wyomingites want to see happen,” insisted Martin. “We are an exporting state.”
When that “green” hydrogen jet fuel starts powering future air travel, said Martin, it will go into airliners at Denver International Airport.
“Yes, there will be people from Denver utilizing the product,” said Martin, responding to a dig made by Representatives Campbell and Strock, who criticized “green” hydrogen as serving “Denver elites” who feel guilty about jet emissions.
“But there are also people from Cheyenne utilizing the product, and Laramie and Casper,” said Martin. “DIA is the airport that services pretty much all of Wyoming.”
David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.
