DECEMBER 23, 2024 |
Photo – HF Sinclair logo – Bigfoot99 file photo
In the Platte Valley, south of Saratoga, ranchers and landowners are challenging the State of Wyoming’s approval of Sinclair Refinery’s plan to divert water from irrigating ranchland near Encampment to use at the refinery near Rawlins.
A formal appeal was filed on behalf of several ranching interests by a Boulder, Colorado law firm on December 10, 2024 to the Board of Control of the State Engineer’s Office.
At the heart of the appeal, ranching and agricultural interests argue that Wyoming law allows water from the North Platte River to be used for farming and irrigation, not industrial refinery operations.
The appeal argues that under Wyoming law, HF Sinclair’s plan is a “change of use” not an “exchange.”
In their appeal, the claimants from the Platte Valley state that a change of use requires a separate legal process.
The legal paperwork filed with the state argues that the ER Ranch water rights are only permitted for irrigation and domestic purposes, “not to provide make up or replacement water for the Refinery Water rights.”
The ranchers also say the process is flawed. The refinery, the filers of the suit say, were required to file a petition with the Board of Control for a change of water rights under 41-3-104 rather than seek the approval directly from the State Engineer under 41-3-106.
The Platte Valley claimants also contend that the exchange, as constructed, may violate the “Modified Decree” of 2001 between Wyoming and Nebraska. The exchange, the ranchers argue, will be difficult, if not impossible to administer in violation of state law.
The claimants state that their water rights will be injured.
HF Sinclair of Dallas, Texas, owns both Sinclair Parco Refinery and the ER Ranch near the Town of Riverside. The refinery is seeking to augment its supply of available water when there is insufficient water available to the refinery in “allocation months” when demands on the available water supply tighten.
