Secretary of State Chuck Gray on Thursday indicated it's Gov. Mark Gordon's fault that he voted yes on an easement for a data center generation facility in June.
Gordon called that "clearly an excuse concocted by Mr. Gray to cover up the fact that he is not doing his homework and is taking votes he does not understand."
The governor also said that Gray sounds "like a jackass in a tin barn."
In his campaign against eight other Republicans for the GOP nomination to U.S. House, Gray is the only candidate voicing outright opposition to data centers. Many of his opponents have said it’s the state and local governments’ role, not the role of Congress, to dictate policies on data centers.
Gray was the lone no-vote of the State Board of Land Commissioners in February, on approving a 35-year easement for Cheyenne Power Hub, a generation facility slated to fuel a new Google data center project in the Cheyenne area.
He had touted being the lone nay on the data center project easement at Tuesday night’s House debate.
In June, however, Gray voted in favor of granting a 35-year, 30-acre easement to that same data center generator facility.
Gray told Cowboy State Daily he voted in favor of that data center-feeding facility because the vote’s true nature wasn’t clearly noticed, and “it looked like an easement for an oil and gas producer.”
Members of the State Board of Land Commissioners receive application documents a week before each meeting, and Office of State Lands (OSLI) and Investments personnel offer them a chance to ask questions and gain clarity before the meetings, OSLI communications and policy analyst Melissa Defratis said in a brief Thursday interview.
'An Ongoing Problem'
Gray also blamed Gordon for what he calls inadequate notice of the votes.
“Unfortunately, at certain times, the Governor has found ways to hide what these leases are actually doing,” said Gray in a Thursday email. “For example, in June, it wasn’t even mentioned that any of the easement applications had anything to do with the data center.”
The June application was from the same facility that drew Gray’s no-vote in February.
“There was no way for the Board members to know, which has been an ongoing problem," Gray said.
"All projects, easements, and Temporary Use Permits having anything to do with wind, solar, or data centers should be clearly noticed to the State Board of Land Commissioners," said Gray. "The fact that they haven’t been, including in the June meeting, is deeply disturbing to me.
"It shows Gordon’s continued attempts to force outrageously wrong wind, solar, and data center projects without clear notice and knowledge of the public, including the State Board of Land Commissioners.
Gray accused Cowboy State Daily of being “the ultimately ally of Mark Gordon” and an unspecified group of “insiders.”
Gordon responded in a strongly-worded statement, noting that the members of the State Board of Land Commissioners are "fully briefed with every opportunity to ask the staff for more information. Nothing is being hidden from Mr. Gray."
Gordon said Gray has not been doing his homework and has been voting on things he doesn't understand.
The governor said that in Thursday's meeting, "Mr. Gray appeared to be unprepared or unfamiliar with the material in front of him and was distracted by his cellphone during the meeting as he has been before."
The governor said Wyoming's elected officials are expected to come prepared to meetings.
"Mr. Gray continues to show his inability to understand the issues before him and to work well with his colleagues," said Gordon, adding, "The Secretary is sounding like a jackass in a tin barn."
The Substation Access Vote
In the Thursday meeting of the State Board of Land Commissioners, Gray nearly voted against giving Tri-State Generation and Transmission permission to use a 298-foot access road in rural central Wyoming on Thursday, after voicing concerns about whether the company would use the road to advance any wind, solar or data center projects.
Tri-State Generation and Transmission is a wholesale power supplier serving eight electric cooperatives in Wyoming including High Plains Power, Carbon Power and Light and Big Horn Rural Electric Company.
Tri-State applied for a five-year, temporary-use permit for a 288-foot access road in remote Natrona County for $250 a year.
The elected officials on the State Board of Land Commissioners and the public have access to these applications at least a week before each meeting.
Secretary of State Chuck Gray announced at the Thursday meeting in Cheyenne that he would vote no on the permit because he didn’t know if the access road involved any data centers, wind or solar projects.
After a lively debate about supplying irrigation power to farmers, Gray reversed course and voted yes to approve the permit.
Tri-State told Cowboy State Daily after the meeting that its application isn't tied to any potential projects.
It was for access renewal into an existing Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) substation, where Tri-State keeps equipment for operational and grid reliability purposes, "that from time to time requires routine maintenance," the company said.
That substation also abuts one of Tri-State's own substations, serving High Plains Power, the company said.
'Futile Call To Essentially Stifle Capitalism'
Conversation at the Thursday meeting turned to Tri-State’s request for access via a 288-foot route.
Gray had asked administrative staff if applicants were associated with data centers, wind energy or solar projects. He told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday that that “blanket” inquiry was due to his concerns that board members don’t have enough information.
Office of State Lands and Investments Director Stacia Berry said she’d reviewed the list for temporary-use permits. None appeared to be associated in any way with those projects, except for one unknown, she said.
“The only one I’d note is (the Tri-State application),” said Berry. “This is an access road. I can’t guarantee what all is associated with that access road.”
Berry said the office tried to contact Tri-State, but the company had no notice its access road application would come up as a standalone topic at the meeting.
Gray asked to remove that application from the list.
State Auditor Krisi Racines granted his wish by moving the whole list without it.
“I’m going to vote no on this,” said Gray. “It might be fine. They (the office) reached out. They (Tri-State) didn’t respond. We don’t know.”
Gray said the board should “tighten things up here. I think it’s gotten too loose, and I’m going to be a no here.”
Gov. Mark Gordon noted that Tri-State is a significant power generator for multiple cooperatives that distribute power to Wyomingites.
Gray again said the board’s administrative office hadn’t heard back from Tri-State.
“I would just supplement that with, they’ve had about 35 minutes,” said Berry. “They didn’t anticipate needing to be present today.”
Treasurer Curt Meier issued a warning.
“Impeding, you know, generation and power to me seems like a futile call to essentially stifle capitalism,” said Meier. “We need power in this state for economic development. Tri-State supplies power to practically every irrigator and farmer in the state.”
Meier warned of denying Tri-State access to power facilities “in this extreme drought area.”
He shook his head.
“I’m really grasping the utility of continuing this dialogue,” he said.
Gray changed course, saying he would probably vote for the access route.
“But I just asked a simple question: is this tied to wind or solar. And we can’t get an answer,” he said. “I just think it’s really disturbing, to me.”
Meier countered.
“At no time I think in the last decade or even in the last 10 minutes have I heard that wind and solar is illegal,” said Meier. “And I think trying to manage our economy on political ideology instead of law is troubling to me.”
Gordon said he wanted to get back on track.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder called for the vote. When the other board members voted aye, Gordon turned to Gray and asked if he was choosing to abstain from the vote.
Gray gestured and said something the livestream audio didn’t capture clearly.
“He’s voting aye,” said Gordon.
Gray told Cowboy State Daily in his Thursday email that he changed course because Berry indicated the project was probably not linked to wind, solar or data center projects.
Earlier …
Earlier in that meeting, the discussion turned to a 2.46-acre, 39-year easement request for which Enbridge Solar offered to pay a $56,235 one-time fee.
Gray asked the board to remove Enbridge’s application from a bigger list of easement applications by various companies.
Gordon asked the board three times if anyone would support Gray’s amendment. Silence followed.
“Mr. Secretary, I’m sorry, that motion fails,” said Gordon.
Degenfelder urged thoughtfulness.
“I know discussion is on this Enbridge Solar, but I think we should be cognizant we’re talking about access only,” said Degenfelder. “So when we start prohibiting access, we get ourselves into trouble.”
Gray said he’d be voting no on the easements consent list.
“It’s just really unfortunate we weren’t able to have a discussion on the Enbridge Solar piece separately,” said Gray. “It’s linked to the data center south of town.”
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
