Tuesday, AUGUST 5, 2025|
The Wyoming Industrial Siting Council has not been contacted regarding the Seminoe Pumped Storage Project, according to the department head.
On July 14th, Wyoming Industrial Siting Administrator Jenny Staeben addressed the Board of Carbon County Commissioners. During the discussion, Commissioner Sue Jones asked if the developers of the Seminoe Pumped Storage Project, rPlus Hydro, had contacted the Industrial Siting Council for a construction permit. Staeben responded that the company had not, adding that rPlus Hydro may be under the mistaken assumption that it is not required to engage with the Industrial Siting Council.
In June of 2024, representatives from rPlus Hydro, a Utah-based energy development company, held a presentation in Sinclair on their proposed Carbon County large-scale electrical storage project. Company officials detailed a plan to build an artificial lake atop Bennett Mountain at Seminoe Reservoir capable of holding 10,000 acre-feet of water. rPlus Energies Chief of Staff Theresa Foxley explained that the pumped storage facility will serve as a type of battery. When electricity is abundant, water is pumped 1,000 feet up into the higher storage lake from the lower Seminoe Reservoir. When energy demands outpace production, Foxley said the water is allowed to flow downhill through an underground hydroelectric turbine, generating electrical power.
When completed, the Seminoe Pumped Storage project is expected to span roughly 1,100 acres of federally managed land and cost upwards of $3 billion.
Naturally, construction of a facility of this scale, including miles of new roads, an upper reservoir, and extensive underground working to house the electrical generators, will have a substantial impact on the local environment. Even after the project is operational, it will continue to affect the area, with the water level of Seminoe Reservoir expected to fluctuate by 6 to 18 inches as the pumped storage facility draws water into the upper reservoir and releases it to generate electricity.
Speaking to Bigfoot99 in May, Casper Regional Fisheries Supervisor Matt Hahn explained that changes to the Seminoe Reservoir’s water level could alter the water temperature, potentially harming the Miracle Mile, a nationally recognized blue-ribbon trout-fishing area located downstream from the proposed facility.
The project is still a long way from fruition, with rPlus Hydro representatives optimistically stating that construction is expected to begin as early as 2027, with the facility becoming operational around 2032. In the meantime, the Seminoe Pumped Storage facility is continuing to undergo an extensive environmental review and permitting process. According to the Federal Infrastructure Projects permitting dashboard, none of the seven federally mandated permits have been completed as of this report. Nevertheless, the dashboard lists January 15th, 2027, as the estimated completion date for the review and permitting process.
Back at the July 14th Board of Carbon County Commissioners meeting, Wyoming Industrial Siting Administrator Jenny Staeben explained that rPlus Hydro is aware it must obtain a permit from her organization before construction can begin but has yet to do so.
Here in Wyoming, all projects with an estimated build cost exceeding $253 million must obtain a permit from the Industrial Siting Council before beginning construction. Once an application is submitted, the Council has 135 days to evaluate the proposed project’s socio-economic and environmental impacts and determine how much assistance funding will be allocated to the local community to help address those effects.
