Powder River Breaks July – August 2020
July – August 2020, Volume 48, Number 4 In the summer of 2019, Governor Gordon, a couple of legislative leaders, and the state land office began discussions about the purchase of millions of acres of mineral rights and land owned by the financially troubled Occidental Petroleum (Oxy). The purchase entailed approximately 1 million acres of […]
Powder River Statement on Wyoming’s Failed Occidental Petroleum Land Bid
Powder River Basin Resource Council says Wyoming has been saved from a potentially serious financial blunder. Powder River Basin Resource Council expressed optimism that Wyoming’s bid for millions of acres of land and mineral rights has apparently failed. Occidental Petroleum (OXY) is negotiating with another bidder instead. “Luckily, Wyoming seems to have dodged a bullet, […]
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 […]
Reclaiming & Growing Wyoming’s Future webinar series continues June 25
On Thursday, June 25 Powder River Basin Resource Council will continue its 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 different panelists with specific areas of expertise in transitioning resource-dependent communities. In this second webinar, Tools to Diversify […]
Reclaiming & Growing Wyoming’s Future webinar series starts June 17
On Wednesday, June 17 Powder River Basin Resource Council will kick-off its 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 will feature panelists with specific areas of expertise in transitioning resource-dependent communities. In this first webinar, Wyoming’s Reality & […]
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 […]
2019 Ad Valorem Mineral Tax Delinquency Update
Powder River Basin Resource Council has been tracking ad valorem mineral production tax (ad valorem tax) debts in 13 Wyoming counties since 2017. This year, the Wyoming County Commissioners Association (WCCA) joined our efforts and collected data from all Wyoming counties. We applaud the Select Committee on Coal/Mineral Bankruptcies for putting forth well thought-out proposals […]
