OCTOBER 22, 2024 |
Photo – Wyoming Energy Authority logo – Courtesy WEA
The H.F. Sinclair refinery in Carbon County is on the short list to receive taxpayer money from the state’s Energy Matching Funds program.
The Wyoming Energy Authority, which vets Energy Matching Funds applications, has also recommended Governor Mark Gordon allocate $4.7 million to HF Sinclair to upgrade and expand a gasoline-production unit at its Parco Refinery in Sinclair.
The WEA also recommended to distribute a combined $7.8 million in taxpayer money from the state’s Energy Matching Funds program to Rocky Mountain Power and one of its engineering partners.
Rocky Mountain Power would use the nearly $8 million to design and build technology for coal-fired power plants to capture carbon to meet a controversial mandate imposed by the Legislature and championed by Gordon.
The EMF, as it is called, Energy Matching Funds, are intended to spur innovation and bring energy projects to Wyoming—at least according to the WEA’s website.
In 2022, the Wyoming Legislature appropriated $100 million to the Office of the Governor to provide matching funds for a variety of projects, from hydropower and lithium to battery storage and wind energy.
The Legislature made an additional $50 million available in 2023.
The voting members of the EMF Review Committee include representatives of the WEA, University Wyoming Energy Resources, Office of the Governor, Wyoming Department of Workforce Services, and the Wyoming Business Council.
Wyoming conservation groups have criticized the state for its coal-carbon capture mandate, as well as utility companies for using taxpayers to foot the bill. For instance, the Sierra Club notes that PacificCorp is an investor-owned utility backed by some of the wealthiest people in the world, including Warren Buffet.
The Legislature’s conservative Wyoming Freedom Caucus is not a fan of the fund, either. The group tried, but failed, to de-fund the Energy Matching Funds program as unnecessary and wasteful.
Governor Gordon has approved about $67.5 million in Energy Matching Funds grants, according to state data.
