CASPER — A Natrona County judge has given new hope to a gravel mining company’s desire to take gravel off the base of Casper Mountain.
Natrona County District Judge Joshua Eames issued an order Tuesday that overturns a Wyoming State Board of Land Commissioners denial of six land leases for Prism Logistics.
The order sends the leases back to the board for review.
Eames ruled the State Land Board's June 5, 2025, denial “failed to comply with the statute, (and) its denial of Prism’s renewal applications is unlawful and must be reversed.
“Although Prism invites this court to find that it met a condition for renewal … it is not this Court’s role to evaluate whether Prism met (conditions). It is for the (State Land) Board to decide,” he wrote.
Prism Logistics Manager Kyle True said the ruling has confirmed his understanding of the state statute.
“The reason we appealed the board’s denial of the renewal of the leases is because we read state statutes the same way Judge Eames reads the state statutes, that we had a right to renewal of the leases and that we had met the criteria to maintain that right,” he said.
True said the company will now go back before the State Land Board, and this time, “I strongly suspect the leases will be reinstated.”
While Eames’ decision impacts six of eight leases — including Section 36, what’s known as the School Section of the land at the base of Casper Mountain, which is a popular outdoor recreation area.
True said he believes that a future ruling on a second request for judicial review on two other leases denied by the board on Oct. 2, 2025, will get similar results from the judge.
The six parcels were initially obtained by Prism after the leases were put on the State Land Board’s consent agenda in June 2023, with no discussion at the meeting.
The board is made of of the state’s top elected officials: Gov. Mark Gordon, Secretary of State Chuck Gray, Treasurer Curt Meier, Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder, and state Auditor Kristi Racines.
Will Fight Gravel Leases
Gray, who lobbied for denying the leases for the controversial gravel mining operation, issued a statement Wednesday of “total disagreement” with Eames’ ruling.
“I’ve been clear in my opposition to the gravel pit leases at the base of Casper Mountain,” he said. “Yesterday’s decision to force a renewal of the gravel pit leases is outrageously wrong.
"This activist decision by an appointed judge needs to be appealed.”
Gray said the State Land Board made the “correct” decision to deny the leases and now an “activist judge” is trying to “force renewal” of the leases.
As a member of the board, Gray said he will “continue to push back against projects that are not in the best interest of Wyomingites and not consistent with the fiduciary duty of the board.”
True said Gray’s statement shows why “he is not fit” to hold public office.
“Chuck Gray seems to believe that once he takes an opinion or position that he can pursue that, absent of any restrictions, and that the (State Land) Board can make rulings completely absent of state law,” he said. “We believe that the board ruled outside of state law and contrary to state law and the judge agreed with us.”
Attempts to reach Gordon, who chose not vote on the renewal issue on June 5, and Meier, who cast the lone vote against denying the lease renewals, were not immediately successful.
Degenfelder's and Racines' offices also did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Both voted to deny the lease renewals on June 5.
‘Exclusive Right’
Under his ruling Tuesday, Eames said the statute is clear that the “lessee shall have the exclusive right to renew the lease for successive terms of 10 years each” provided the lessee meets criteria outlined the rules that the “lessee is proceeding in good faith to develop the leased land.”
That “good faith” development is defined in Wyoming statutes as, “substantial expenditures or firm commitments for exploration, engineering, environmental studies, hydrological studies or research and development that is required for development of any lease.”
Eames ruled that the language of the statute is “unambiguous" and supports Prism’s interpretation for “exclusive right to renew the lease.”
He wrote that while the state board has discretion to lease lands for “a primary term,” the statute language on renewal gives the lessee the exclusive right to lease the lands provided one of four conditions is met.
In Prism’s case, the Land Board’s role was to evaluate whether Prism met one of the four conditions.
He said the group failed to provide any “evaluation or findings” under the statue’s criteria “regarding whether Prism met any of the conditions for renewal.”
He said the State Land Board’s denial based on Prism not obtaining licenses and permits during the time frame of the first leases “does not track the statute.”
‘Fight’s Back On’
True’s efforts to mine gravel from the mountain have faced strong opposition in the Casper community with more than 20,000 signatures on petitions opposing the mining.
The Natrona County Board of Commissioners voted in September 2024 to amend the county zoning ordinance to reinstate a prohibition against mining in the mountain residential zone.
However, in a separate ruling on Tuesday, Eames wrote that Prism’s leases are not subject to county land use regulations and cited a Teton County case that was affirmed by the Wyoming Supreme Court.
True said if he gets the lease renewals from the State Land Board he believes he can meet the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality requirements within 30 days and would press forward to start operations this year.
Casper Mountain Preservation Alliance Chairperson Carolyn Griffith said she had seen the county ruling, but not the one involving sending the leases back to the State Land Board.
She said not giving the county any say over uses on state lands poses real issues.
Griffith noted the potential groundwater situation for residents at the base of Casper Mountain that would be affected by gravel mining.
“I don’t think this is over by any means,” she said.
Noted Wyoming bronze sculpture artist Chris Navarro, who has a house at the base of the mountain and has been active with the Alliance in opposing any gravel mining on the state lands, said every time he thinks the issue has been “put to bed” it gets resurrected.
“The fight’s back on,” he said. “We are not going to allow that out there.”
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
