It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Friday, May 23rd. I’m Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - Brought to you by the Wyoming Community Foundation, who asks you to give back to the place you call home. “5 to thrive” is YOUR opportunity to leave a legacy for generations to come. Support the community nonprofits you care about with a gift through the Wyoming Community Foundation. Visit wycf.org to learn more.
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Massive oil and gas reserves identified across southwest Wyoming are being called out this week by federal officials as “substantial.”
Based partly on research from the University of Wyoming, the federal Department of the Interior revealed the Mowry Shale holds 473 million barrels of oil and 27 trillion cubic feet of natural gas across southwestern Wyoming, Colorado and Utah.
Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports that the find has local industry watchers wondering if that could mean a new “Bakken boom” in the region.
“It's, I think, 300 times the amount that has been taken out of the Jonah field when it comes to natural gas. And so that's quite a bit like 27 trillion cubic feet of natural gas identified. Of course, when you have tons of natural gas, which we do in southwest Wyoming, there's always a question of, well, who's going to buy this stuff? You know, can we find new markets, put it into liquefied natural gas and maybe ship it overseas and find an export market? Because what the industry always tries to avoid, of course, is flooding the market with too much and driving the price down too far.”
Paul Ulrich, vice president of government and regulatory affairs at Jonah Energy, sees the Mowry discovery as validation of what Wyoming operators have long believed, which is that Wyoming sits on tremendous natural gas resources. Ulrich pointed out that the Mowry has the potential to help fuel Wyoming's economy for a very long time.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Massachusetts-based federal judge on Thursday blocked the president’s two-month-old executive order slashing the U.S. Department of Education in half, ordering the reinstatement of terminated department employees.
But Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the action does not grant a win to the several states, school districts and unions that sued President Donald Trump’s administration.
“Preliminary injunctions are basically a pronouncement, you know, it blocks the law while the case is ongoing, or the action while the case is ongoing, but they're basically a pronouncement like the person whose law or order is being blocked is not likely to win this case. And the judge actually went on and on for 88 pages to that end, basically saying, this is a violation of separation of powers. This is really harmful that Congress has told the Department of Education to do so many things that they can no longer do.”
The judge’s order signals a strong likelihood that the plaintiffs will win the case, by outlying constitutional and legal errors the judge found in the order’s implementation, and by pointing to what he deemed irreparable harms wrought by it.
Read the full story HERE.
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The landowners behind the Wyoming “corner-crossing” case have filed a petition to bring it before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The case is rooted in a longstanding dispute between Iron Bar Holdings LLC and four out-of-state elk hunters, over an incident in Carbon County. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that if the high court decides to hear the case, it could settle once and for all whether it’s legal to “corner-jump,” or cross the pinpoint at the intersecting corners of square parcels of public and private land.
“Thousands of petitions are filed a year, the Supreme Court might hear 70 of them in a year. So but they have, they have taken that next and final step. They're taking it all the way to the Supreme Court to settle this question over whether hopping or crossing between corners. Is it trespassing, or is it not? So, the Supreme Court could be in line to answer that question once and for all.”
In March, the U.S. 10th Court of Appeals, one level below the US Supreme Court, ruled in favor of the hunters. Filing for the extension of the deadline is only an initial step and hardly a guarantee that the Supreme Court will hear the case.
Read the full story HERE.
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When Gov. Dave Freudenthal hired Diane Shober to be Wyoming’s Office of Tourism director 22 years ago, his initial impression was that she was too bubbly for the job. It didn’t take long, however, for Freudenthal to realize that her enthusiasm was actually her superpower.
Now with Shober announcing plans to retire at the end of 2025, Freudenthal and others who have worked with her over the last two decades told Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean that they are realizing just how much Shober has guided Wyoming’s tourism industry.
“CJ Box was telling me how he worked with her. He had a tourism company for 24 years, and he worked with her directly as he worked with many other tourism directors in many other states and even other countries. And he said, by far, that Diane was the best of all of them. So Wyoming has had something really special in Diane Shober all these many past years… I don't know if maybe people have really understood how special she has been for this state, but under her, she's the architect of what we have now, and it's a $4.9 billion industry.”
The next director will have big shoes to fill. Wyoming’s tourism economy is now second in the state behind oil and gas, and tax revenues from the tourism industry have more than doubled.
Read the full story HERE.
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A couple who paid a $24,325 fee to Teton County government to build a home on property they already owned is suing, saying the county extorts fees from homeowners in a way that violates the U.S. Constitution’s ban on government “takings” without compensation.
Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that this issue has been brewing for a while.
“The US Supreme Court galvanized some pretty firm language last year, saying, if you're going to charge someone a home building fee. It has to really be connected to what impact they're going to have on the community… there's been a complaint for a while, but I think that the Supreme Court gave them the ammunition last year to go ahead and launch this suit, and they've got some other tenants that are in their favor. Like, they were already in Teton County. They're not newcomers who are going to potentially exacerbate the housing shortage.”
Wyoming law gives Teton County the authority to set its land use regulations. But those are limited by case law surrounding the Fifth Amendment’s promise that no property shall be “taken” from people without just compensation.
Read the full story HERE.
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For Wyoming hunters and target shooters, firearms suppressors — sometimes inaccurately called “silencers” — might soon be available over-the-counter.
As it stands now, suppressors are included under restricted items the 1934 National Firearms Act. That means that getting one amounts to what some shooters describe as a bureaucratic nightmare.
But Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that the U.S. House late Wednesday passed a budget reconciliation bill that includes a measure removing suppressors from NFA classification.
“When people think of suppressors or silencers, they think of them in the movies as people using them to, you know, to assassinate people. A lot of hunters use them just to cut down on the noise so they're not blowing their ears out with high powered rifle shots. So that's the argument, that these are a good recreational shooting or hunting tool to protect people's hearing. They're not for evil assassins, so let's just make them - they're legal, but let's make them far more easily accessible than they are. “
If suppressors are removed from the NFA classification, they will remain under the federal Gun Control Act, which means people can go into sporting goods stores and buy new suppressors over-the-counter from licensed firearms dealers. They would still have to fill out paperwork for a background check, just as they would when buying a firearm from the store.
Read the full story HERE.
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Southern Wyoming’s Snowy Range opened to traffic Thursday, a few days before its intended opening. The Wyoming Department of Transportation announced that the 12-mile stretch of the scenic byway through Medicine Bow National Forest is cleared of snow and ready for visitors.
But Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that WYDOT is still battling snow across the state. It might be sunny and summer-like in the lower elevations, but the mountain passes don’t yield so easily.
“Some of these routes might have snow plows stationed ready to respond if there's a storm that comes in and snow falls, but you have to expect there might be some temporary closures along these highways if snow is inbound. So we're not quite at the time of year when we can traverse these wonderful scenic byways and highways and mountain passes without any hesitation, but we're getting close.”
WYDOT District 1 opened the Battle Pass Scenic Byway on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Montana Department of Transportation and the National Park Service are working to get the Beartooth Highway open in time for the Memorial Day weekend.
Read the full story HERE.
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Fans of the hit television and Netflix show “Longmire,” based on Wyoming author Craig Johnson’s detective novel series set in northeastern Wyoming, will soon converge on Buffalo for the town’s annual transformation into the fictional community of Durant in the equally fictional Absaroka County.
Those fans who choose to fly into Wyoming at Casper on their way to Buffalo for Longmire Days will quite likely recognize the voice that greets their arrival with an enthusiastic, “Welcome to Wyoming.”
The voice belongs to none other than Robert Taylor, the guy who plays fictional Sheriff of Absaroka County Walt Longmire himself. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that Taylor is so committed to attending Longmire Days each year that he actually turns down paying gigs to show up in Buffalo.
“He never, never misses Longmire days… None of the actors get paid to be part of Longmire days, even the sheriff himself, as necessary as he is to the event. Craig Johnson has said before he couldn't hold this event without him, but he's always here, even if he has paying work. He turns it down so it could be at Longmire days in Wyoming.”
Longmire Days is set for July 17-20 this year. Other guests from the show this year include Louanne Stephens, who plays Longmire’s no-nonsense dispatcher Ruby. A. Martinez, who plays casino owner and primary villain Jacob Nighthorse, and John Bishop, who plays town drunk Bob Barnes, are also coming to Buffalo for this year’s Longmire Days.
Read the full story HERE.
And that’s today’s news! For a deeper dive into the people and issues that affect Wyoming, check out The Roundup, conversations with the most interesting people in the Cowboy State. This week, my guest is Shannon Orr, founder of the Orr’s Hope Foundation. You can find the link on our website, on our YouTube channel, and wherever you get your podcasts. And of course, you'll find it in our FREE daily email newsletter!
Thanks for tuning in - I’m Wendy Corr, for Cowboy State Daily.
