EVANSTON — Two speakers addressed the Uinta County Economic Development Commission at its Aug. 26 meeting, with two very different messages. Rocky Mountain Power Vice President Sharon Fain focused on PacifiCorp’s plans to transition from coal-powered energy to wind and solar, while Wyoming Taxpayers Association Executive Director Ashley Harpstreith came bearing grim news about the state’s tax revenue.

Fain was first to speak. “Thanks for having me, and I would like to give you an overview of PacifiCorp and our plans,” Fain said. “We are made up of two divisions: Rocky Mountain Power (RMP) and Pacific Power. Rocky Mountain Power General Manager Ron Wild and I will be answering questions as we go over the transition plans. Our main purpose is to succeed in a changing market and operating a coal plant is more expensive overall than the alternative sources of wind and solar. We will succeed by reducing carbon emissions and continuing to provide high reliability with low rates.”

In providing statistics for Wyoming customers, Fain said RMP’s reliability rate is at 98.98% and customer rates are 33% below the national average and the second lowest in Wyoming. In the western U.S., the company has over 5,600 employees, 1.9 million electricity customers, covers 141,000 square miles in six states and has 17,457 miles of transmission lines. 

Fain said Rocky Mountain Power’s work in progress is to add 1,150 megawatts of new wind energy, repower the existing company-owned wind fleet with longer blades and newer technology to increase energy production and extend the life of the turbines, along with construction of Gateway West — 140 miles of new 500 kV transmission, plus 50 miles of 230 kV network upgrades.

Fain continued by covering the company’s plans to assist communities and employees as Wyoming’s coal plants are retired from 2023 through 2028. Transition plans consist of reeducating and or relocating employees. The company’s mission is that no employee suffers job loss and is implementing priority hiring. They already have had two employees who relocated, one to the Salt Lake City plant and the other was hired as general manager at their Washington State plant. All employees will have the opportunity to either continue to work for PacifiCorp in a new location or to be retrained for employment in the new energy field at the company’s expense. 

Robert Wharf, who won the Republican primary last month for Wyoming House District 49, asked, “What are the company plans for reliability when the new energy sources of wind and solar are not always reliable and you no longer have coal?”

“As plants drop off, reliability will remain the same,” Wilds said. “Our driving factor at Rocky Mountain Power is reliability.”

Rep. Danny Eyre, R-Lyman, said, “It seems like there is always going to be a need for coal-fired energy, and I think the plans are more politically driven rather than economically.”

Wild responded, “That need doesn’t exist today but maybe things will change. It is an overall generation of change and people all over the world are working on methods to store and create energy with longer storage batteries, hydro-electric and air. Rocky Mountain Power maintains reliability of the grid for the entire Western U.S. The grid is all tied together and there are system operators in each region who monitor the system and make adjustments so flow is maintained. Coal is not going away, this is just a shift and coal will be in reserves.”

Sen. Wendy Schuler, R-Evanston, asked Fain about plans to help the communities that will be impacted by the transition.

“Our plans for the communities and employees involved includes financial assistance, educational opportunities, retraining, possible relocation and priority hiring,” Fain responded. 

In Kemmerer, Fain said, RMP is working closely with the city administrator as a partner to ensure transparency and ways to diversify the economy. She said in Kemmerer, Glenrock and Sweetwater County, Rocky Mountain Power had provided $50,000; Gov. Mark Gordon had allocated $50,000; and the Wyoming Business Council had allocated $50,000 toward grants for impacted communities. Kemmerer had received a portion of those monies in a grant to study how best to diversify and help the community.

She mentioned that in Converse County over the last month, 40 displaced oil and gas workers had been employed by Rocky Mountain Power at for its Cedar Springs project. 

The current work in progress, Fain mentioned, will generate more than 1,200 construction jobs over the duration of the project, more than $70 million in tax revenue during development and construction and approximately $11 million in annual tax revenue in 2021 and growing to approximately $14 million in 2024.

Rocky Mountain Power plans for future work include adding up to 1,800 megawatts of new wind and solar power capacity; construction of Gateway South, a new 416-mile transmission segment (142 miles in Wyoming) planned to meet growing energy demand; and Gateway West, 120 miles of new and rebuilt transmission line. Those plans will generate between 2,550 and 3,100 construction jobs over the duration of the project, more than $112 million in tax revenue during development and construction and additional annual tax revenues of approximately $12.7 million in 2023, and growing to approximately $16 million in 2028.

A final comment was brought by Mark Tesoro, Publisher of the Uinta County Herald regarding the probable concern of many Wyoming residents who do not wish to see a swath of windmills or a solar sea on the landscape. 

“When private companies build wind and solar, we are required to purchase that power,” Fain said. “Rocky Mountain Power is committed to working with counties and we won’t interrupt migration corridors or impact the visual effect of the environment.”

Fain said that, as for disposing of the wind blades when they are no longer usable, Casper has made $600,000 annually off of the blades disposal and they have also cut some of the blades in half and are using them to line landfills.  She said Rocky Mountain Power had invested in the new Ekola Flats Bridge and transitioned the old Glenrock coal mine into a wind farm.

Fain thanked the commission and members of the audience for their questions and concerns and added for more information they could visit PoweringGreatness.com/Wyoming.

Harpstreith, from the taxpayers association, spoke next. She began by stating that her organization is the cornerstone on taxation and any proposals that are made at the state level are run through WTA. WTA members meet on a weekly basis during the Legislative Session to discuss timely bills, receive updates on bill status and summaries of the legislative budget. Members meet with legislators to discuss important tax issues. 

Since 1937, the WTA has provided the essential nonpartisan connection and information source for Wyoming taxpayers and policymakers. WTA is one of the oldest of its kind in the country.  All WTA research and policy is guided by the cornerstones of taxation: justification, equity, balance, stability and transparency.

Since 2000, the Wyoming tax structure has lacked equality, balance and stability, Harpstreith said. The primary tax sources (75%) for the state are property taxes, mineral and severance taxes, along with the sales and use taxes. Tax reform 2000 is a report that was commissioned by the Wyoming State Legislature in Senate Enrolled Act No. 56, which was adopted in 1997.

Tax Reform 2000 focused on fixing some of the fundamental problems with Wyoming’s tax structure, and how to make it more equitable, stable and balanced. The report found that Wyoming’s tax structure was regressive because of its dependence on mineral markets and unbalanced because minerals paid the majority of taxes in the state of Wyoming. 

Harpstreith named a few of those recommendations, including examining an increase in property tax, real estate transfer tax, a “sin” tax increase on alcohol and tobacco, reinstating a food tax; adding a fuel tax, vehicle user charge, tax on some essential health products, personal Income tax and possibly repealing the sales tax exemption for charitable and non-profit entities.

“Many of the findings and recommendations of that Tax Reform 2000 report remain true today. Even if a community brings in a business that hires 100 new employees with families, the output of expenses involved will be greater than revenues generated,” Harpstreith said.

Harpstreith said Gov. Mark Gordon had implemented in March a 10% budget reduction from all departments, along with contracting and hiring freezes. Gordon asked for another 10% reduction afterward and, in October, will look again at possible reductions. She said there is a discussion of the possible closing of rest stops on Interstate 80.

Even with all these cuts, Harpstreith said, the Consistence Revenue Estimating Group (CREG), made of legislators and tax professionals, has estimated a $1.2 billion shortfall for the state’s budget by 2022.

She said the legislative revenue committee is currently looking at possibilities to gain revenue that include local government revenue options, moving the gaming regulation to the Department of Revenue, taxing electricity power distribution, bonding and investment taxes, implementing a personal income tax and increasing sales tax.

Harpstreith said the Regional Economic Model for Investment (REMI) group had studied Wyoming and compared the state’s tax structure to industry revenues. The REMI conclusion was that even if the state brought in a utility or chemical industry with the current tax structure, the expenses generated for the state would still exceed the revenues gained.

“The bottom line is economic diversification efforts are unable to improve revenue flow to Wyoming without tax reform. Talk to your legislators,” Harpstreith concluded.

Tesoro, representing Southwest Off-road Trails (SWOT), gave an update on the project’s progress. The project was started about six months ago, and he and local Forrest Service District Ranger Rick Schuler have met with many entities that will be involved in the success of the trails project.

Tesoro said he recently met with Samantha Harnack from Pinedale Travel and Tourism and Pinedale Mayor Matt Murdock. Tesoro said they are both interested in connecting trails from Pinedale to Kemmerer and from Kemmerer to Bridger Valley and Evanston.

SWOT met with landowners and had some pushback from them as they had concerns about vandalism, trash and livestock interactions. Rancher Kelly Guild arranged a meeting of landowners with Tesoro which provided an opportunity to discuss their issues and another meeting will be held with them in October.

Tesoro said he had given a presentation on SWOT at the Evanston Rotary Club and had a positive response from the members. He has had invitations to present the information on SWOT at the Kiwanis Club in Rock Springs and the Lions Club in Bridger Valley.

The next steps for SWOT are to meet with the Evanston City Council, WYDOT, Uinon Pacific, landowners, the state, county commission, the Bureau of Land Management, Game and Fish, The U.S. Forest Service and neighboring communities. Tesoro said SWOT is formalizing the group as a nonprofit in order to seek grants and funding.

He said he is working with Evanston Mayor Kent Williams and the Evanston City Council to get permission for ATVs to drive on city streets in order to unload and drive to the county roads.

“We need approval from the commission to use the existing county roads for SWOT, and Rick Schuler and Gary Welling are working on that,” Tesoro said. “Evanston has been a pass-through community, and we need to capitalize on those people coming through to help our community.  We need something other than gas and oil to bring people to Uinta County. This project has great potential here.”

Evanston Director of Community Development Rocco O’Neill reported that the new economic development website, businesswyoming.com, had 147 visitors in July and 63 in August for a total of 210 as of the meeting. O’Neill said the website is brand new and mostly advertised now by word of mouth.

“However, my phone is constantly busy with mom and pop type shops in Utah that want to relocate in Evanston,” O’Neill said. “The limiting factor is a limit on the availability of commercial and residential properties. Our next step is a targeted marketing campaign and rebranding.”