December 6, 2023 |
Photo – Jim Bridger Coal Power Plant – Courtesy Aerial Archives
Governor Mark Gordon has informed the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that Wyoming will not pursue funding from the EPA’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grant program.
In a letter to EPA, Governor Gordon cited EPA’s decision to remove state’s flexibility in using the federal dollars is not in the best interest of Wyoming.
In a statement Tuesday, the governor said he consulted with the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality before making the decision.
After Washington approved the WDEQ’s $3 million “Cowboy State Pollution Reduction Plan, the state agency learned that Washington had unilaterally changed the work plan description.
“In contemplating whether to enter into a grant agreement, it is important to consider what is in the best interests of Wyoming,” Governor Gordon said in a statement. Gordon said the “EPA has repeatedly shown an unwillingness to work with the State in advance of proposing multiple new federal rules.”
In his statement, the Governor said the Biden Administration gave Wyoming unreasonable time frames to comment on the impacts of those rules.
The Governor said the ground rules of the funding program changed mid-way through the process and became a grant program. The change in the funding process limited the state’s flexibility in reducing emissions while still harnessing Wyoming’s energy resources.
“For Wyoming, this amounts to a classic bait and switch, with the end result being Wyoming could spend $3 million in taxpayer dollars for the possibility of a $2 million dollar grant that would not address Wyoming’s needs,” Governor Gordon said.
In the governor’s letter to the EPA announcing his decision, which is dated November 30, Gordon described the EPA’s competitive grant program as a “carrot,” adding that “it does not make sense to Wyoming that spending $3 million in federal taxpayer funding for the remote potential of receiving a $2 million grant.
The Governor called it an “unnecessary cost” on Wyoming taxpayers.
