Wyoming’s governor launched an incisive counterattack Friday in an ongoing feud with the secretary of state, accusing the secretary of lobbing dishonest social media attacks at the governor.
Gov. Mark Gordon and Secretary of State Chuck Gray have sparred on numerous topics from whether there’s a need for additional voter-integrity laws in Wyoming to whether the state should grant leases on state lands for wind turbine projects.
The latter topic surfaced in a Friday discussion on Cowboy State Daily’s radio show with Jake Nichols, in which Gordon pointed to his constitutional duty to maximize revenue from state lands to the advantage of Wyoming’s schools.
That shaped his recent vote to approve leases for two eastern Wyoming wind projects that are planned across about 180,000 acres of private and state-owned land, the governor said.
Public schools are under changing budgetary standards, as a Cheyenne-based state judge recently told the state Legislature that it doesn’t calculate funding for the schools precisely enough, and that it needs to send more money for school resource officers and counselors, and enough tablet devices for each child to use on his or her own.
In a later Friday statement, Gordon attacked Gray more directly.
“Although our forefathers had their differences,” wrote Gordon, “they did not have to contend with the hit-and-run tactics some politicos and malcontents resort to using on social media.”
Gray in a video response posted Friday to Facebook called the governor's statements "bonkers" and "bizarre."
The Photo That Started This
Gray on Monday posted a photograph to social media of a hilly landscape spiked with wind turbines. The foremost turbine’s topmost blade is broken, charred and shredded.
His photo caption reads, “A photo of Mark Gordon’s outrageously wrong ‘vision’ for Wyoming.”
Gray talked about the post on Nichols’ show Wednesday, saying that a fire had mangled the blade.
The jab harkens to the April 3 decision of Gordon and three other statewide officials to approve two wind farm projects to develop on state land in Converse and Niobrara counties over a 40-year term. The votes happened during a meeting of the State Board of Land Commissioners, which Wyoming’s statewide elected officials comprise.
Gray was the lone nay on both votes.
The Pronghorn and Sidewinder projects are unique as the power they generate is slated to support a hydrogen plant rather than providing energy directly to the electrical grid. Construction on both would be scheduled to start in 2028.
In a Wednesday town hall meeting in Lusk that drew about 100 locals to talk about the projects, Gray repeatedly criticized the governor as being “out of touch” with Wyomingites and said that he and Gordon aren’t likely to exchange Christmas cards in the near future.
While Gray has characterized Gordon’s approval of these projects as a step toward a turbine-littered hellscape, Gordon called the secretary’s post, “Mr. Gray’s most recent social media lie suggesting my vision for Wyoming energy only includes wind power.”
“Social media platforms can be useful ways to connect with friends and loved ones and share useful information,” says the governor’s statement. “However, when they are used deceptively by self-seeking individuals as a means of causing discord and dissension for personal gain, they are not.
“Spreading gossip through deceptive posts takes its toll — not only on the individuals being defamed, but on our communities as well.”
Pivot
Gordon acknowledged that his outspokenness Friday marks a pivot in the ongoing feud between the two executives.
“Typically,” he wrote, “I have paid little attention to the insults our Secretary of State spews because they are bogus.”
But Friday was different because “the record needs to be set straight” on wind, Gordon said, and because he’s concerned for the spread of what he cast as Gray’s dishonesty.
“This week Mr. Gray chose to take a shot at me, but next week he will take aim at someone else,” wrote Gordon. “A county clerk, a property owner or member of your family — really anyone who disagrees with him or (whom) he feels by slandering he can raise his stature.
“It is sad.”
The Why
Gordon also unpacked the State Board of Land Commissioners’ majority decision.
“The five statewide elected officials, as members of the State Board of Land Commissioners (SBLC), took a sworn oath to honor our Constitutional and fiduciary responsibility to earn the best return for the state and our schools,” said Gordon.
He had read aloud from that section of the constitution to Nichols earlier Friday.
“Notably, Mr. Gray is often the sole member of the SBLC to ignore this obligation,” Gordon continued, adding that Gray’s nay vote was an attempt to suppress private property rights of the nearby landowners who had chosen to participate in the wind project on their own.
Gray’s vote also “sought to deny revenues for Wyoming schools and overlooked potential financial benefits for Niobrara County,” the governor wrote.
Gordon said it’s Gray’s prerogative if he wants to do that, but it demonstrates “his disregard for the duties of his office and a determination to impose his personal preferences on others, no matter the cost.”
Conversely, the governor called his vote and the aye votes of the other three executives (Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder, Treasurer Curt Meier, Auditor Kristi Racines) the more realistic approach. They honored the rights of the landowners who are allowing this project in those regions, said the governor.
The projects already have survived a four-year process and require more review from the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality’s Industrial Siting Division, the state engineer and local regulators, among others.
Both projects include private and state lands, and the state lease was granted after those lessees, many of whom voluntarily opted into the project, signed consent forms regarding their state leases, Gordon noted.
“Notably, the SBLC approval was only for the wind farm lease on state lands with cooperating lessees,” he added. “The Board of Land Commissioners cannot permit the part of the project that lies on adjacent private lands, which makes up about 70% of the total Pronghorn project and 80% of the total Sidewinder project.”
The state land board did not authorize any portion of the prospective hydrogen project, nor could it approve water appropriations contemplated for the project, said the governor.
“Water and private property rights are sacred in Wyoming,” the governor added. “In addition, current state leaseholders (those holding grazing leases) signed a consent form to allow the turbines to be built on the leased land.”
Secretary's Video
Gray defended his wind turbine post, calling it "the truth," in his Friday video. He also took a dig at Gordon's visit to Harvard University in 2023 to tout "carbon negative" goals.
Gray also theorized that Gordon was disregarding the potential that the approved projects could be more costly than profitable, and said public comment at the wind lease meeting, and at Gray's recent town halls have shown that Wyomingites overwhelmingly oppose such projects.
"Let's not have these inaccurate gaslighting comments," said Gray.
He finished by inviting "Mark" to join him at town halls across the state. And he claimed "the media" covers for Gordon.
"But I'm not gonna do that," Gray said. "I'm going to continue to expose the truth."
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
