For one of the Wyoming Legislature’s most ardent opponents of increasing radioactive waste storage in the state, a nuclear generator manufacturer’s announcement this week that it has abandoned Wyoming for Tennessee was bittersweet.
The many efforts of state Rep. Bill Allemand, R- Casper, to oppose the company’s bid to store spent nuclear fuel in his county tarnished his relationship with other officials, but he told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday it was worth the political fallout to represent his constituents.
One of his detractors countered, saying Allemand’s tactics look more like campaign efforts than thoughtful representation.
“I have no interest in working with Bill Allemand unless we absolutely have to,” Bar Nunn Mayor Peter Boyer told Cowboy State Daily.
The debate sparked a fiery argument between the lawmakers and revealed infighting between state and local lawmakers. While the issue has been resolved, much of this tension still persists.
Heading South
Radiant Nuclear Senior Director of Operations Matt Wilson wrote in a Cowboy State Daily letter to the editor that his company decided to move its proposed site to Oak Creek, Tennessee rather than Bar Nunn or other parts of Wyoming.
This decision followed immense pushback toward the project from locals who expressed concerns over the potential impacts of spent fuel stored on site.
“But, at the end of the day, our decision came down to regulatory certainty,” Wilson wrote. “Wyoming law currently allows spent fuel to be stored only at operating reactor sites, signaling nuclear is part of Wyoming’s energy portfolio.”
Wilson added, however, this decision does not preclude future developments in the state.
"While Radiant will be focused on our future operations in Tennessee, I plan to watch Wyoming’s development from a distance with hope there will be a future where energy innovation is prioritized and encouraged,” he wrote.
Bury The Hatchet
Allemand earned the nickname “Mr. No-Nuclear” due to his fierce opposition toward the Radiant project proposal, which he displayed at multiple public meetings. He told Cowboy State Daily the company’s decision is bittersweet given the impact it could have had on the state.
“I guess you can call it a victory,” he said via phone. “There's also a defeat because I would have loved to have had the manufacturing, but we could not have the nuclear waste storage here.”
Allemand had testified against the project at a meeting of the Bar Nunn City Council in September, which he said led Mayor Peter Boyer to tell him to “sit down and shut up.”
Boyer denies having said this.
The representative told Cowboy State Daily this and other efforts against the project tarnished his relationship with fellow lawmakers, some of whom he considered among his closest friends. Allemand said Wednesday the decision was worth it because he did so in the service of his constituents.
“There was a couple others that still hate my guts, but that's something I just like to work out with these people and not have not put that out in the public,” he said. “I signed up to be the House District 58 representative. I took an oath of office saying that I would protect their health and welfare. Absolutely it was worth it. I did what I told the people I would do.”
The Wyoming Constitution contains a clause saying the legislature has a duty to protect the people’s health and welfare.
Allemand said he hopes to make amends privately with those who remain upset with him, whom he would not name. Despite this, Allemand said many still believe him to be “a ringleader of a big radical group."
“I am not part of any group fighting Radiant,” Allemand said. “I did collaborate with them some, I collaborated with Matt Wilson. I am so proud of these people for standing up and fighting for what they think is right, and like I've told them, when we band together and we work hard and we don't back down. We change things, and we got this changed.”
Never Again
Boyer told Cowboy State Daily that Radiant’s decision is a “bitter pill to swallow” given the influx of young families the development could have brought to the area. He also called for a return to “civil discourse” in city council meetings now that the issue is resolved.
Despite this, Boyer said he remains frustrated with Allemand and had some charged words to offer when asked about his relationship with the representative. He argued Allemand’s advocacy was akin to a campaign stunt to appeal to his voter base, rather than doing what’s right for the state.
“I think Bill Allemand has proven himself to be a person who is more interested in doing what's right for Bill Allemand than he is what's doing right for Bar Nunn or for this state,” Boyer said via phone. “And to say there’s a hatchet to be buried? No. He can try as much as he wants to, but he’s done a lot of damage to this community.”
Boyer further called for Allemand to go on an “apology tour” to rebuild his reputation with Bar Nunn leaders.
Part of Allemand’s pushback involved inviting Oak Creek, Tennessee City Councilmember Charles Hope to testify in Wyoming on the dangers of nuclear developments.
Boyer said such a decision by Allemand was “inappropriate.”
“It's ridiculous what he's doing,” the mayor said. “He had the audacity to come into our council meeting to tell us we don't need a police department. I didn't see him at a single budget session. I don't believe he's an elected official here in Bar Nunn.”
Boyer said much of the discourse surrounding the Radiant proposal was driven by online echo chambers, which he said caused toxicity and vitriol to spill over into public meetings. He called on Wyomingites to pay attention to state lawmakers who continue to appear at local meetings.
“It's the craziest thing I've ever seen,” he said. “We've got state legislators that are inserting themselves into conversations that, quite honestly, they don't even belong in and people really should be paying attention to this because it's a gross overreach of power,” he said. “They should be alarmed by that, because that is that is your local municipalities being run over roughshod by state level governance.”
Other State Leaders
The discourse comes as other state leaders deride one another over Radiant’s decision to exit the state.
Gov. Mark Gordon on Tuesday blasted political coalitions that spoke out against Radiant, referring to them as “Club No.”
“‘Club No’ has ushered in a new culture of no matter who began or who commenced it, we’re against it,” Gordon said. “That is not the way Wyoming became the great state it is… Wyoming should not be held back by fear. We should be pioneers.”
Sen. Ed Cooper, R-Ten Sleep, also criticized the resistance effort, and said polls taken among Natrona County residents favored the Radiant project.
"This is a small, very vocal minority, and unfortunately, that's what got the voice," Cooper told Cowboy State Daily.
Rep. Steve Harshman, R-Casper, said he was "incredibly disappointed" by the decision and compared it to rejecting the coal strip mining industry 50 years ago.
"Wyoming would be a different place if we didn't have the coal industry and what it's provided our state and our people," Harshman said.
Jackson Walker can be reached at walker@cowboystatedaily.com.
