NIOBRARA - Deep fissures within the community were laid bare by a town hall meeting hosted by Secretary of State Chuck Gray at the Niobrara County Fairgrounds last Wednesday. Gray voiced his opposition to the Sidewinder and Pronghorn green energy projects, which are being proposed by a Delaware-based company in partnership with a developer dubbed Focus Clean Energy.

During its April meeting, the State Board of Land Commissioners voted 4-1 to approve state land leases for the two projects. Gray established himself as the sole dissenter in the meeting by casting the only vote against the two projects.

“As the only member to vote against it, I want you to know that I am very concerned,” Gray said. “I don’t think the argument that we heard from the other members [of the Land Board]… that ‘Well, if it’s revenue, Wyoming has to accept it and that’s in line with the fiduciary duty of the board.’ That’s not good enough for me. If you think about it, there are so many responses to that… For one, what if the costs are higher than the revenues? What if taking $10 imposes $50 of costs through reclamations or any other costs that would be imposed as part of an agreement? Obviously, that’s not in line with the fiduciary duty or their premises.”

According to Gray, one of the chief promulgators of this fallacious argument is Governor Mark Gordon.

“The Governor, who has been pushing a lot of this, is responsible for that argument being put forward,” Gray said. “I think we need to push back vigorously on that. State lands are held in trust by the state of Wyoming. That goes back to statehood and we have a fiduciary duty to manage them in the right way. But that doesn’t mean just every single time we’re offered any sum of money we have to say ‘Yes.’”

Gray characterized Gordon as being “out of touch.” In support of this characterization, Gray cited Gordon’s support of green energy projects. Gray believes that this support is antithetical to the values of Wyoming and, as such, is symptomatic of Gordon’s detachment from his own constituency.

The contention between Gray and Gordon is certainly no secret. In fact, it was on display during the April Land Board meeting when Gray engaged in a heated verbal exchange with Gordon over the tenability of green energy projects.

“Gordon and I… we’re not on Christmas card lists anymore,” Gray said. “The stakes are high. This is an issue-based thing between him and I.”

Of especial concern to Niobrara County residents is the Sidewinder Clean Hydrogen Center, a sustainable energy project being promoted as a potential producer of “clean hydrogen.” The project is being spearheaded by Paul Martin, president of Intermountain Wind, LLC. in Boulder, Colorado. According to Martin, the “clean hydrogen” produced by the Sidewinder project will be used to make synthetic fuels that can supplement fuels that are already on the market.   

Yet, Gray and several Niobrara County residents are not fully convinced. Gray’s skepticism was echoed by a sizable percentage of the attendees at the town hall meeting last Wednesday. Over 100 people showed up to speak with Gray and many echoed his trepidations over the Focus Clean Energy projects. Their project-related concerns include noise pollution, light pollution, infrasound exposure, compensation for surrounding landowners, the potentially unsightly aesthetic impact of wind turbines and, most significantly, water usage.

Among those in attendance was former County Commissioner John Midkiff, who highlighted the extremely divisive nature of the issue for Niobrara County residents. Midkiff stated that he has observed widening schisms between neighbors since the Sidewinder project began to establish a local presence.

“It’s divided this community pretty bad,” Midkiff said. “People who used to be friends are no longer friends.”

According to a rancher named Bobby Giesse, he has received several attractive monetary offers to set up wind turbines on his land. Heretofore, all of them have been refused.

“I’m completely against the project,” Giesse said. “They’ve been to my house numerous times. They offered me $57-million, but that money isn’t coming until 55-years from now. That might be able to buy me a loaf of bread 55-years from now. That might be able to buy me a loaf of bread at Decker’s. I said, ‘Your money doesn’t mean anything to me because you’re not giving me anything up front. You’re giving me nothing up front.’ They were just blowing smoke up my skirt.”

In addition to dubious monetary enticements, Giesse cited an episode where project operations allegedly adversely affected his cattle and property.

“Two weeks ago, their frigging helicopter ran our cattle through our fence,” said Giesse. “Torn our fence all to hell. We had to go up there and move the cattle all back over and fix the fence. I called the folks with the corporation and what did I get? [They said] ‘We’ve never had this problem before.’ It’s just beginning.”   

Local rancher Mark Groh argued that wind turbines and other green energy project operations disfigure the otherwise pristine landscape of Wyoming.   

“They [wind turbines] are extremely detrimental to the eye as you look out over our beautiful landscape,” Groh told the Herald. “The other part of it is they are not environmentally friendly. They use a thousand yards of concrete for every footing for one of those. Concrete is a terrible thing for the environment. That concrete dust is harsh. Then, they have to build transmission lines to get this stuff where ever it goes. That’s another encroachment on our beautiful landscape. We have enough transmission lines now as it is. And, birds, bats, all wildlife… they’re all affected by this.”

Groh’s ranching operation has been running for 18-years. Now, he fears that the Sidewinder project is drawing nearer to his beloved home. This fear has intensified since one of Groh’s neighbors to the south has allegedly signed a contract with Sidewinder. Such perceived incursions are equally unsettling for Gray.

“It’s a Spanish company that wants to come in with the wind power, produce hydrogen and use water with that process,” Gray said. “Representative [Kevin] Campbell from Converse County has done a lot of great work on that water intensive process and how that’s inconsistent with our precious resource and valuing that precious resource.”

According to Gray, the jet fuel produced by this process will be “piped down to DIA [Denver International Airport] to be used by woke billionaires to tell their friends when they go to Davos that they’re green.”

Gray also argued that the contract for the land leases will give rise to liability issues.

“You look at the contract itself and there are a lot of problems and there’s some litigation that’s been filed around this, “said Gray. “For one, the duties assigned in the contract can be assigned to subsidiaries.”

According to Gray, this arrangement will set Wyoming up for a “Peabody 2.0 situation” wherein “the rights assigned to the lease can be assigned to another third party.” In turn, that third party might not “have assets that can pay for reclamation, etc.., etc.”

“Then, we’re on the hook for that,” said Gray.

According to Gray, the contract also creates liability issues with lenders.

“Those that are providing capital to the project are really set aside,” Gray said. “Their liability is dramatically reduced in the way it [the contract] is worded.”

While Martin has argued that the “clean hydrogen” his project will produce is not intended to supplant Wyoming’s legacy industries, Gray characterized this claim as “disingenuous.”

“It’s competition with our core industries,” Gray said. “Coal, oil, gas, all of them.”

Gray objected to the use of government subsidies to financially support green energy projects. According to Gray, such subsidization was facilitated in large measure by Jenifer Scoggin, the former Director of the Wyoming Office of State Lands and Investments. Gray stated that Scoggin was “very heavy in the negotiating of these sorts of agreements.”

Of course, subsidies for green energy projects like Sidewinder could be on the chopping block with the passage of Trump’s tax plan. Gray expressed some cautious optimism concerning Scoggin’s successor, Stacia Berry. However, he didn’t dismiss the possibility of continued green energy project subsidization through the Office of State Lands and Investments.

“You would think when we have such a great federal administration that is trying to pull back these subsidies with the ‘Big Beautiful Bill,’ that we wouldn’t be doubling down on this,” said Gray. “But, unfortunately, with this gubernatorial administration, Mark Gordon has been. He puts in place the lead of the State Land Office and they serve at his pleasure.”    

The controversy underscores a two-pronged dilemma for Niobrara County. On one hand, many residents oppose the Sidewinder Clean Hydrogen Center on the grounds that it negatively impacts Niobrara County while simultaneously yielding meager energy output. On the other hand, the county is facing stagnating population numbers coupled with a decline in agriculture, ranches, and farms. An economic consequence of this demographic trend is a smaller workforce, which will invariably struggle to generate the necessary tax revenue to support the county.

Such a dilemma was highlighted by former town councilman Bo Krein, who contended that Lusk was at a pivotal juncture in its life as a town. That juncture was characterized by a familiar binary: growth and excellence or stagnation and mediocrity. It was Krein’s conviction that Lusk’s business community would either grow into a robust local economy or shrink to such a diminutive size that the town would be considered little more than a “fuel stop along the way.” While Krein did not foresee the complete disappearance of agriculture in Lusk, he did believe that town would have to diversify its economic portfolio with the addition of new businesses.

In short, while those who oppose Sidewinder and its closely aligned green energy projects are desperate to save their county, there might not be a county left to save if current demographic and economic trends hold sway. These concerns were reiterated by Mayor Doug Lytle, who was in attendance at the town hall meeting on Wednesday.

“In 1992 when I graduated from high school, we had 150 kids in our school,” Lytle said. “The population of Lusk has not changed much since then. We’ve always been around 1,500 people. We’re at 1,493 right now, give or take. I got asked one time, ‘What can you do in the town of Lusk to get the population of the school back up?’ I said, ‘It’s not the town’s population that’s decreased. What has decreased? Land ownership.’ There are no 5,000-acre ranches anymore, which is fine. That is the direction we have went in. We ask the town to bring in things, but then we resist change.”

While Lytle remained somewhat ambivalent concerning the Sidewinder project, he contended that Lusk would have to accept some sort of change in order to stem the tide of demographic decline.

“I’m not saying this is a good change or bad change, but we resist change in this community.” said Lytle. “Sometimes, we have to embrace change. Now, I’m not saying that this is the project we have to embrace, but sometimes we have to embrace that change and, if we do not, we’re going to keep getting smaller and smaller.”

In an attempt to promote unity among his otherwise fractured neighbors, Groh told the Herald, “I wish we could come together. I don’t like this project. I don’t like anything about it, but there could be other projects that could come. But you have to have leadership in the county and the town that goes out and promotes new business coming in.

According to Groh, Niobrara County residents are not necessarily averse to new businesses. They are, however, careful about the nature of those businesses that the county welcomes in. 

Groh told the Herald, “I don’t think that ranchers and the people of the county are against people coming in here and starting businesses and making us successful. I think the scope of this affects so many landowners in such a large section of land. The cost is so great that if something should go wrong, who will cover all of that? ”

In hopes of informing others, Groh is currently organizing a tour of a wind farm. Presently, he is waiting to learn about the price of a tour bus.

“I think a majority of people in this town have never stepped into one of those big mills,” Groh told the Herald.

Tentatively, Groh plans to place sign-up sheets around town. While this plan currently exists in a skeletal form, Groh welcomes telephonic queries from any interested parties. Those who wish to learn more can reach Groh at 307-216-0051.