The Wyoming State Board of Land Commissioners will hold a special meeting next week in Douglas to take public comment on wind leasing, a month after a district court judge reversed the board's approval of a wind energy lease for the controversial Pronghorn H2 project in Converse County.
The meeting will convene at 10 a.m. Jan. 8 in Meeting Room 1 at the Douglas Library, 300 E. Walnut St., and will also be available via web conference and live-streamed on the Office of State Lands and Investments' YouTube channel.
The board routinely holds space on its calendar every other month for matters that require attention, and this meeting also includes proposed rule changes for grazing, agricultural leasing, special use leasing, and an oil and gas lease term extension in Laramie County.
But it's the agenda item for public comment on wind leasing that has drawn attention following a Dec. 5 ruling by District Court Judge F. Scott Peasley that vacated the wind lease for the Pronghorn project.
"This is an opportunity for the public to comment,” said Amy Edmonds, spokeswoman for Gov. Mark Gordon. "It's time for them to be listening to the public."
Leasing In General
Next week's meeting appears designed to address the lack of public input at the December executive session in Cheyenne, said Patrick Lewallen, the Casper attorney representing rancher Mike Stephens in the lawsuit that resulted in Peasley's ruling.
"My understanding is that the purpose of the upcoming meeting is to provide the public with an opportunity to offer comments regarding wind leasing on state lands generally," Lewallen told Cowboy State Daily. "While the SBLC meeting in December was well attended, no public comment was taken due to the nature of that special executive meeting.
"This meeting appears intended to allow residents to voice their comments, concerns, opinions, or support regarding wind leasing on state lands, including on lands outside of Converse County."
Lewallen noted the meeting agenda doesn't appear to signal any imminent changes to the board's wind energy rules, which remain at the center of the legal dispute.
"At this point, I do not see anything in the agenda indicating that the SBLC intends to change its rules related to wind energy leasing," Lewallen said. "The only proposed rule changes currently identified appears to relate to agricultural leases and oil and gas wells."
Appeals Filed
Meanwhile, Judge Peasley's ruling is headed to the Wyoming Supreme Court.
Both the Wyoming Board of Land Commissioners and Pronghorn H2 LLC filed notices of appeal on Dec. 19.
Paul Martin, the president of Focus Clean Energy who's leading the Pronghorn project, told Cowboy State Daily, “We respect and honor the state’s regulatory review process and look forward to participating as appropriate.”
Attorney General Keith Kautz has said the dispute on appeal centers on the definition of the word "including" in the board's wind leasing rules, arguing that the judge's interpretation as a limiting term could implicate hundreds of state statutes, contracts and regulations.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder, a member of the State Board of Land Commissioners, issued a statement Dec. 19 criticizing how the December meeting unfolded.
"Today's meeting was legally required to be conducted in executive session, effectively and unfortunately barring public participation," Degenfelder said.
She also took aim at the decision to appeal Peasley's ruling.
"While the Attorney General does have statutory authority to ultimately determine whether or not to file an appeal on behalf of the state of Wyoming, it is unfortunate that this decision was taken out of the hands of the duly elected SLIB board," Degenfelder said.
Degenfelder pointed to federal policy shifts as relevant context for the state's wind leasing debate.
"President Trump's Big Beautiful Bill took important steps to roll back the federal government's longstanding favoritism toward wind energy," she said. "Wind has been propped up by federal subsidies and regulatory advantages that distort competition and undermine Wyoming's reliable job-creating fossil fuel industries for far too long.
"As we look to manage state lands moving forward, we must prioritize the voices of the Wyoming people and Wyoming industries."
Legal Background
Peasley's Dec. 5 ruling sides with Stephens and his family operation, Stephens Land and Livestock LLC, who challenged the lease that the board had approved in a 4-1 vote in April.
The judge found that the Pronghorn project — a proposed 267-turbine wind farm on about 15,500 acres of state trust lands in the northern Laramie Range — doesn't meet the state's definition of wind energy leasing because it won't connect to the electrical grid.
Rather than selling electricity to the grid, the project planned to use wind-generated power to produce "green" hydrogen jet fuel through electrolysis.
The board's rules define “wind energy leasing" as leasing of state land for the exclusive right to convert wind energy into electrical energy "including collecting and transmitting the electrical energy so converted to the substation from which the electricity will be transmitted from the wind energy development to the interconnection of the transmission grid."
Peasley concluded that the word "including" limits the board's lease authorizations to wind projects that will feed the grid.
Secretary of State Chuck Gray was the lone board member to vote against the lease in April.
Following Peasley's ruling, Gray called for "a new meeting of the State Board of Land Commissioners where public comment will be taken."
Gordon, who voted with the majority to approve the lease, has supported the attorney general's appeal, framing the case as having implications beyond the single wind project.
Focus Clean Energy, the Colorado company backing the Pronghorn H2 project, estimates it would bring $1.7 billion in private investment to Converse County, with total taxes paid over the 35-year project life estimated at $471 million. The state land portion represents about 30% of the total project.
Those wishing to attend the Jan. 8 meeting in person or provide comment can register online through the Office of State Lands and Investments.
David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.
