EJJ

Energy Reporter

Emma Jane Jackson

Emma Jane Jackson joined Cowboy State Daily as an energy reporter in September 2026. She’s previously written for the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, Billings Gazette and the Daily Iowan. In 2022, she created a podcast called “Out of Sight: Missing and Murdered” about Selena Not Afraid, a young woman who was found deceased near a rest stop in Hardin, Montana. She graduated from Triton College in River Grove, Illinois, in 2018.

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Latest from Emma Jane Jackson

Jack Hansen’s orange Kubota tractor parked outside the Mint Bar in downtown Sheridan last week.

At 81, This Sheridan Veteran Uses His Tractors To Pick Up Women On Main Street

Nobody in downtown Sheridan bats an eye when Jack Hansen parallel parks his Kubota outside the Mint Bar to take local women out for breakfast, though his viral tractor rides have managed to annoy both his wife and the local John Deere dealership.

Emma Jane JacksonNovember 14, 2026

‘Brings You Back to 9/11’: Sudden FAA Ground Stop Strands Wyoming Flyers

Passengers across Wyoming were stuck just like thousands of other Americans on Friday as the FAA grounded every flight in the country citing safety concerns. "It's Friday the 13th," said one hunter from Pennsylvania who was stuck in the Cheyenne airport.

Emma Jane JacksonNovember 13, 2026

Cori Slingerland with one of the cats she has been working to rescue from the hoarded Lander house.

A Lander Woman Walked Into An Animal Hoarding Crisis, And The Town Stepped Up

Cori Slingerland had never handled a hoarding case before entering a Lander home filled with roughly 19 cats and waist-high garbage. But she stepped in anyway and the community rallied. “I’ve got to get these animals out of here,” she says.

Emma Jane JacksonNovember 13, 2026

Utah Company Expanding To Green River Promising Union Jobs Amid WE Soda Cuts

A Utah mechanical contractor sped up its southwest Wyoming expansion plans after WE Soda announced 350 layoffs, signing with local unions to match mine-level wages and vacations. “We want to keep all the work in Wyoming,” the company president says.

Emma Jane JacksonNovember 13, 2026

Wyoming Energy Leaders Call New Federal Permitting Reform Bill A ‘Game Changer’

Sens. Barrasso and Lummis voted to advance a permitting overhaul that supporters say would cut years of federal red tape for Wyoming energy projects. "This is a game changer for Wyoming," said Ryan McConnaughey, of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming

Emma Jane JacksonNovember 12, 2026

A citizen effort to overturn a massive annexation in southeast Cheyenne has failed after city officials determined a petition fell more than 900 signatures short of the threshold needed to trigger a referendum.

Petition To Stop Cheyenne Data Center Falls Short, But Legal Fight Isn't Over

A petition to put Cheyenne’s 3,460-acre Microsoft data center annexation to a vote fell short by more than 900 signatures, city officials said. An organizer cited Frontier Days and a tight 20-day deadline, and said the next fight will be in court.

Emma Jane JacksonNovember 11, 2026

Barrasso Blames China For Trona Layoffs: “The Cause Is Clear: It's Communist China”

At a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Tuesday, Sen. John Barrasso called WE Soda’s layoff announcement of 350 jobs a "devastating blow" and pointed the finger overseas for the industry downturn. “The cause is clear: it's Communist China,” he said.

Emma Jane JacksonNovember 10, 2026

As the Foot Creek Fire burns across 683 acres near Buffalo, the U.S. Forest Service is once again asking pilots to stay out of the airspace above it.

Planes Keep Flying Over Buffalo Area Wildfire, Disrupting Firefighters for Hours

Planes twice circled the Foot Creek Fire and disrupted firefighters for more than an hour, causing safety concerns in the air and on the ground over the weekend. Johnson County's airport manager said the behavior is consistent with “looky loo” flying.

Emma Jane JacksonNovember 09, 2026

Hundreds Rally Along Roadway For Sweetwater County WE Soda Workers

Hundreds of people lined the road to the WE Soda trona plant outside Green River on Monday, pleading for the families of the 350 workers who will be laid off. “You don’t know the man you hurt, but I do. He’s my daddy!” read a sign held by a little girl.

Emma Jane JacksonNovember 09, 2026

Charlotte Bair poses in front of an aircraft at the Hulett Municipal Airport.

18-Year-Old Lovell Pilot Will Be One Of Youngest In U.S. With Top Jet Rating

At 18, Lovell pilot Charlotte Bair is poised to become the youngest woman in Wyoming — and one of the youngest in the U.S. — to earn a jet type rating to fly turbojet planes. Bair already became a certified flight instructor in August.

Emma Jane JacksonNovember 08, 2026

Dodging flying debris in 100 mph winds that toss semis around Wyoming highways like toy trucks is stressful enough. Cheyenne wreckers did it with a camera crew in their faces during a record-breaking windstorm.

Rocky Mountain Wreckers TV Followed Cheyenne Wreckers During Record 100-MPH Winds

Camera crews for the Discovery reality show "Rocky Mountain Wreckers" followed Cheyenne wreckers last spring as Wyoming's capital city was blasted by record 100-plus mph winds. Those crews which cleaned up dozens of semis were featured on Friday’s show.

Emma Jane JacksonNovember 07, 2026

Why A Gillette Woman Changed Her Mind About Having Data Centers As Her Neighbor

A Gillette woman attended a Campbell County Commission meeting Wednesday expecting to oppose having data centers as a neighbor. Instead, Peabody Energy’s vision for mine-mouth power, housing and green space won her over. “They have a good plan,” she says.

Emma Jane JacksonNovember 06, 2026

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Sweetwater County mom Bree McMullan said she's bracing for having vital medical care for her children cut off, but said her bigger fear is what 350 WE Soda layoffs announced Wednesday will do to her neighbors. “These are the families that are going to be struggling,” she said.

Sweetwater County Family Depended On WE Soda Mine Job, Now Layoffs Loom

While one Sweetwater County mom braces for having vital medical care for her children cut off, her bigger fear is what 350 WE Soda layoffs announced Wednesday will do to her neighbors. “These are the families that are going to be struggling,” she says.

Emma Jane JacksonNovember 06, 2026

Sommer Chase and her husband, Cody Chase, who first noticed the lights while working night shift at a Montana coal mine.

UFO Investigator Stumped By Gillette Woman’s Video Of Rotating Lights In Night Sky

A Rock Springs UFO investigator says he has "no explanation" for video of mysterious rotating lights a Gillette woman captured. “They're everywhere,” she says about seeing them multiple times in Wyoming and Montana.

Emma Jane JacksonNovember 05, 2026

‘A Sucker Punch’: WE Soda To Cut 350 Jobs In Shift Away From Underground Mining

WE Soda announced Wednesday it will cut 350 jobs and ditch underground dry mining to fight Chinese competition, leaving its 800 workers reeling. “It feels almost like a sucker punch,” for the Wyoming trona mine's workers, said its union president.

Emma Jane JacksonNovember 04, 2026

‘There Is No Plan’: Could Cheyenne Become A Tech Ghost Town If AI Bubble Bursts?

Tech giants are pouring billions into Cheyenne data centers as Wall Street warns the AI bubble could burst. “There is no plan,” said one City Council member while warning the city could be left with huge empty buildings if the AI tech industry collapses.

Emma Jane JacksonNovember 04, 2026

Rocky Mountain Power and transmission lines 11 3 26

Wyoming Regulators Launch Investigation Into Rocky Mountain Power

The Wyoming Public Service Commission launched an investigation last week into Rocky Mountain Power and whether the utility has been fair to its industrial customers. “Unnecessarily burdensome and punitive,” is how RMP's president described the probe.

Emma Jane JacksonNovember 03, 2026

Natrona County Data Center’s Billionaire Landowner Once Fought Against Turbines

In 2009, Texas billionaire Russell Gordy asked the state for a massive land swap he said was meant to keep wind turbines off a Natrona County mountain. Now his ranch says a huge data center is still on the way, even though the developer walked away.

Emma Jane JacksonNovember 03, 2026

The shattered entrance to Hat Six Travel Center after a van crashed through the Evansville business early Sunday.

'Somebody's Looking Over Me': Trucker Escapes As Van Plows Through Evansville Store

A slow cashier kept one trucker at the counter just long enough to save his life before a fleeing van plowed straight through an Evansville truck stop Sunday. "If I got my change right away, I'd have been walking right through that door," he said.

Kolby Fedore & Emma Jane JacksonNovember 02, 2026

Dan Koldenhoven with his wife, Misty, and their two children.

‘He Loved His Rig’: Fallen Wyoming Oilman Honored With 3D-Printed Replica Of Rig

When a Cheyenne oilman died suddenly after coming home from a shift, his grieving family wanted a special way to honor him. A local business made a 3D-printed replica of the oil rig he helped build from the ground up. “He loved his rig,” his widow says.

Emma Jane JacksonOctober 31, 2026

Components for the steam generator system for the Natrium nuclear power plant in Kemmerer.

Is AI Safe Enough To Develop Nuclear Power? Wyoming Is About To Find Out

AI is speeding up the work on Wyoming’s next-generation nuclear power plants, including TerraPower's Natrium plant in Kemmerer. “We’re using AI itself to check our plans, check our designs,” said Bill Gates during a visit to the site this month.

Emma Jane JacksonOctober 30, 2026