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Lawmakers are scrambling to draft a bill that would restrict what wildfire victims can claim damages for when electric utilities spark blazes. Insurance premiums for utilities are exploding due to class action lawsuits stemming from utility-caused wildfires that have resulted in death and property damage — particularly in the West. Some utilities fear they may lose insurance coverage while increasing insurance rates threaten to raise costs for electric customers and bankrupt some power p...
Fresh off a regulatory defeat, and amid ongoing legal battles and skyrocketing wildfire liability costs, Rocky Mountain Power is once again asking to charge its Wyoming customers more for electricity. Rocky Mountain Power, Wyoming’s largest electricity provider, filed a new rate request with state regulators on Friday asking for an increase of $123.5 million, or an overall 14.7% hike, citing renewable energy investments and skyrocketing insurance costs for wildfire liability. If the Wyoming Publ...
A legislative committee will draft a measure to prohibit state and local authorities from aiding or cooperating with federal land management agencies “when they pursue policies which harm Wyoming’s core interests.” The move is in response to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s draft plan for managing 3.6 million acres of federal land in southwest Wyoming. The Select Federal Natural Resource Management Committee also voted unanimously to draft a bill creating a new full-time position in the gov...
Rocky Mountain Power’s proposal to hike electric utility rates in Wyoming by an average of 29.2%, if approved, would put households and businesses in peril and only serve to line the pockets of the company’s shareholders and executives, which includes its parent company PacifiCorp’s owner, billionaire Warren Buffett. That was the consensus among about two dozen people who spoke at a public comment hearing held by the Wyoming Public Service Commission Thursday in Casper. “We’re going to lose a...
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management proposes to change how it manages millions of acres across the nation — and in Wyoming — by reestablishing conservation as an equal priority in its “multiple use” doctrine, according to the agency. The Conservation and Landscape Health draft rule recognizes that drought, wildfires and other mounting pressures require a shift in how BLM lands are managed, the agency said. “As pressure on our public lands continues to grow, the proposed Public Lands Rule provides a path for the BLM to better focus on the healt...