Energy moratorium postponed

The Board of Carbon County Commissioners (BOCCC) are closer to placing a moratorium on energy development in the Shirley Basin following their November 16 meeting. While a resolution was presented to the commissioners, the need for further review has pushed any action back to their December 7 meeting.

As wind energy projects continue to pour into Carbon County, and specifically around Medicine Bow, an ongoing study from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) appears to show a negative impact on pronghorn populations. In August, Saratoga Wildlife Biologist Teal Cufaude and Laramie Wildlife Biologist Lee Knox appeared before the BOCCC to present some preliminary findings of the ongoing study. Another presentation was made the following month, this time with Cufaude and Knox joined by Matt Kaufman, leader of the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Unit of the University of Wyoming, Embere Hall and Cody Wallace.

Initial discussion of the resolution centered on exactly where in Carbon County the moratorium would apply to. In a previous meeting, it had been asked if the temporary halt to energy development concerned the entire county or just the Shirley Basin area. Sarah Brugger, Carbon County Planning Director, informed the commissioners of the options available in defining the impacted area.

“We could define it more specific to the Shirley Basin area, which I sent an email that includes the two different options,” said Brugger. “I did just compile the township and ranges what staff would consider the Shirley Basin area and it would be just based off township and range because the Shirley Basin isn’t a defined area in terms of an established boundary.”

Ashley Mayfield-Davis, Carbon County Attorney, suggested the BOCCC refer to a map provided by WGFD which showed the boundaries of the study area. Commissioner Sue Jones agreed with Mayfield-Davis on the use of the map from the state department.

“It’s an established study area, it’s been mapped and for simplicity and greater understanding of where we’re at, to go with the Medicine Bow Pronghorn Herd map as defined by Game and Fish,” said Jones. “With the movement of those animals within that range, they need that whole area for what we’re trying to do here.”

Mayfield-Davis stated some language in the resolution would need to be addressed before it was passed. According to the county attorney, for the sake of consistency, the resolution would need to reference either the Shirley Basin area or the Medicine Bow Pronghorn Study Area. Additionally, the resolution presented to the commissioners was technically an emergency resolution and would be in effect for a maximum of 120 days. The reason behind this, according to Mayfield-Davis, was to allow the BOCCC time to hold public hearings.

“My legal advice to you is to do an update to our zoning resolution, to the 2015 Zoning Resolution and to limit the area where these commercial energy options can be established. Not only in Chapter 6 but I think, also, a lot of times we might refer to the different zoning areas where they’d be permitted to place these,” said Mayfield-Davis. “This just provides us time to make those changes and go through the public procedure in order to do more of a final adoption until the study’s complete.”

“When you say moratorium, people freak out that this is forever gone and some get excited and some get depressed. We don’t have a lot of authority. This is strictly with our permitting as we all know and understand on this and so I think this is the method we need to go through,” Jones said. “The public hearing, the mapping, so it’s very clear to the developers in the area as well as the general public of what we’re talking about.”

As discussion continued, Commissioner John Espy expressed his concerns in the moratorium extending beyond the 120 days in regards to private property rights. While a majority of land within the Shirley Basin area is state land, and many wind projects already under construction or approved to construct are on primarily state or federal lands, private property has also been involved in these projects.

“These are private property rights we’re taking. Somebody’s gone through and trying to exercise that right and has filed a permit with the State and gone through and done BLM permitting,” said Espy. “If they’ve gone through that and started their cost recovery account with the BLM and done all this … 120 days pause I might be okay with but I think, down the road, we need to identify they have a prior existing right before we did this and they are in the process of exercising that right.”

Espy clarified he was not aware of any private property owners within the Shirley Basin area who were currently undergoing that process, but it was something he wanted his fellow commissioners to keep in mind. With the concerns expressed by the commissioners, the mapping and the language, any action on the resolution was postponed until the next meeting of the BOCCC.

The next meeting of the Board of Carbon County Commissioners will be at 9 a.m. on December 7 at the Carbon County Courthouse in Rawlins.