Powder River Breaks Newsletter July-August 2021
July – August 2021, Volume 49, Number 4 Powder River is excited to announce the launch of our new campaign to protect Wyoming ratepayers and promote a just transition from higher-cost coal generation to lower-cost renewable energy. Our new project, the Wyoming Association of Ratepayers, supports affordable, reliable, equitable, and environmentally responsible electricity. We stand […]
Report on Federal Leasing Pause Finds No Dip Western States’ Economies
The pause on oil and gas leasing President Biden ordered upon taking office has a minimal effect on national and western regional economies, according to a new report by the Conservation Economics Institute (CEI). In fact, the analysis finds that the oil and gas industry currently holds leases worth decades of drilling opportunities. The study, “Economic Effects […]
Powder River’s 2020 Annual Report
This is Powder River Basin Resource Council’s 2020 Annual Report. To read the full report, please download the PDF.
New Bill Tackles Unemployment & Abandoned Wells
WASHINGTON, D.C. – These days, skilled workers sit unemployed, while thousands of leaking, orphaned oil and gas wells litter the landscape of the West. An orphaned well is an unreclaimed well for which no owner or operator can be found, or where an owner or operator is unable to plug and reclaim a well. Orphaned […]
Experts to Discuss Oil & Gas Air Pollution and Public Health at CALC Annual Meeting
The impact of oil and gas air pollution on public health will be the topic of the Cheyenne Area Landowners Coalition’s (CALC) Annual Meeting on Thursday, Sept. 24 from 5:30 – 7:00 pm; the event is online and open to the public. The panel will discuss the increasing body of research about the impact oil […]
Powder River Breaks May – June 2020
May – June 2020, Volume 48, Number 3 In June, Powder River kicked off a four-part webinar series, Reclaiming & Growing Wyoming’s Future, providing education, tools, and resources available for a planned transition to a new, diversified Wyoming economy. Each session features panelists with specific areas of expertise in transitioning resource dependent communities. In the […]
Bankruptcies and Inadequate Bonds Threaten Taxpayers, Landowners with Orphan Oil and Gas Wells
In the midst of historically low oil prices and plummeting demand due to coronavirus restrictions, inadequate federal and state reclamation bonding requirements make it easier for deeply indebted oil and gas operators to declare bankruptcy and walk away from orphaned wells en masse. A recent report by the Western Organization of Resource Councils examining the […]
Powder River Breaks January – February 2020
January – February 2020, Volume 48, Number 1 Late last year, the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) told Powder River that they would not be approving Aethon’s permit to discharge over 8 million gallons of polluted oil and gas wastewater a day. DEQ noted that concerns raised by citizens in writing and at public […]
Westerners Travel to Denver to Speak in Opposition to Fundamental Changes to NEPA
Denver, CO – Community leaders from across the Western U.S. traveled to Denver, Colorado today to testify at a hearing held by the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), the division of the White House charged with implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). In the public hearing, farmers, ranchers, tribal members, environmental experts and others […]
Powder River Breaks November – December 2019
November – December 2019, Volume 47, Number 6 On the evening of Nov. 2, nearly 150 of our members gathered for Powder River’s 47th Annual Meeting. After socializing and shopping at the silent and live auctions; the crowd filled the room at the Holiday Inn in anticipation of the conversation around how Wyoming can address […]
