Thursday, March 5, 2026 |
Photo – Seminoe Reservoir – Bigfoot99 file photo
Wildlife conservationists asked state lawmakers to consider the potential ecological impact of the Seminoe Pumped Storage Project.
During Tuesday’s Travel, Recreation, Wildlife, and Cultural Resources Committee meeting in Cheyenne, Chairman Andrew Byron invited Trout Unlimited Government Relations Director Patrick Harrington to speak against the Seminoe Pumped Storage Project. Representative Byron said he planned a full hearing on the subject but ran out of time.
Patrick Harrington began with a brief overview of the proposed Seminoe Pumped Storage Project. Utah‑based rPlus Hydro has outlined plans to build a 13,000‑acre‑foot man‑made lake on top of a mountain near Seminoe Reservoir. The upper lake would be connected to the existing reservoir by 1,000 feet of underground pipeline and an electrical turbine. Harrington explained that during periods of high energy production, water would be pumped from Seminoe Reservoir into the upper lake. When demand outpaces production, the water would flow back downhill through the underground turbine, generating approximately 900 megawatts of electricity.
As a member of Trout Unlimited, a conservation group focused on cold-water fisheries, Harrington said he was concerned about the project’s proximity to the Miracle Mile, noting that the Seminoe Reservoir sits roughly three‑quarters of a mile from the world‑renowned fishing location.
As a form of electrical generation, the Seminoe Pumped Storage Project is required to undergo a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission review. Harrington said it appears that FERC is not giving public comments meaningful consideration during the process.
Harrington was referring to rPlus Hydro’s December 15th submission of a new “Alternative D” plan that proposed moving the project’s staging area and spoils piles off Bureau of Land Management property and onto Bureau of Reclamation land. Last month, the Board of Carbon County Commissioners said the change appears to be an attempt by rPlus Hydro to sidestep BLM regulations.
Harrington recommended having lawmakers compel the participating agencies to answer a series of questions about the project. The state could then hold a public meeting to review the responses.
Harrington said the meetings wouldn’t be to approve or deny the project, but to ensure lawmakers and the public fully understand the potential impact the Seminoe Pumped Storage Facility may have on local wildlife.
Following Harrington’s comments, Wyoming Wild Sheep Foundation Executive Director Katie Cheesbrough testified that the Seminoe Reservoir sits on federal land managed as a state park, with the nearby Morgan Creek drainage designated as a Wildlife Habitat Management Area. Cheesbrough said the project, and others like it, continue to move forward despite state and federal protections.
rPlus Hydro has asked the Bureau of Land Management to amend the Rawlins Resource Management Plan to allow year‑round construction of the pumped storage facility. Without that change, work would be limited to a four‑month window from May through August to avoid disturbing the nearby Ferris-Seminoe bighorn sheep herd.
Cheesbrough explained how the herd, the last in the state to show signs of respiratory diseases, is used to repopulate other bighorn sheep herds around the state.
Cheesbrough urged the committee to consider the importance of bighorn sheep when reviewing the project.
The Travel, Recreation, Wildlife, and Cultural Resources Committee thanked the two speakers for their testimony and moved to the next order of business without further comment.
