Wyo. must count the cumulative cost of industrial development

On Sept. 1, the Wyoming Industrial Siting Council approved the Laramie Range Wind Project after a two-day contested-case hearing. The next day, the Industrial Council approved an extension of the Chugwater Energy Project’s construction schedule.

It moved from one project to the next without meaningfully confronting what these enormous developments could mean together.

Consider their scale. Laramie Range proposes up to 139 turbines across 41,220 acres and as many as 305 construction workers. Its turbines could approach 700 feet from ground to blade tip — roughly the height of 60- to 70-story skyscrapers rising from the Wyoming landscape.

Chugwater Energy proposes approximately 150 turbines across 49,500 acres and up to 450 construction workers. Rail Tie Wind proposes approximately 120 turbines across 26,000 acres and up to 225 workers.

Together, the three projects represent as many as 409 proposed turbines across 116,720 acres — more than 182 square miles. Their maximum workforce estimates total 980 workers.

They would not enter an untouched region. Approximately 175 turbines already operate just west of Cheyenne along Interstate 80. If all three proposed projects are completed, southeastern Wyoming could contain approximately 584 existing and proposed turbines within this expanding industrial corridor.

That does not mean all 980 workers will be present simultaneously. It does mean Wyoming must examine how overlapping construction schedules could affect housing, lodging, roads, water, contractors and emergency services.

The Chugwater and Laramie Range project areas are approximately six miles apart at their closest points. These are not unrelated developments. Separate applications do not produce separate realities.

The public will experience their combined traffic, workforce demands, water consumption, wildlife displacement and transformation of rural landscapes — not separate docket numbers or hearing agendas.

My family has six generations of roots in the Horse Creek area, dating to the 1870s. Members of our extended family and tenants continue to live and work on the Dereemer ranch. Dereemer Livestock depends upon three areas of land on two sides of the Laramie Range project.

For us, this is not an abstract energy-policy debate. It concerns safe ranch access, livestock operations, roads, fire and medical response, water, wildlife and the future of our rural community.

Who will bear the cost of bringing rural roads up to standards capable of supporting industrial construction?

Horse Creek Road, the Nimmo Road interchange, Road 237/Bristol Road and Road 245/Bear Creek Road were not designed for sustained workforce traffic, oversize turbine components, concrete trucks and heavy equipment.

Promises to repair project-related damage are not commitments to widen roads, build shoulders and turn lanes, improve interstate interchanges, pave county roads or correct existing safety deficiencies before industrial traffic arrives. Before construction, the public deserves to know which improvements are required, what they will cost, who will pay and what financial security guarantees completion. Without enforceable, developer- funded commitments, Wyoming and Laramie County taxpayers could be left upgrading rural roads for industrial use — and repairing them after construction crews leave.

Project supporters often call wind development a private-property- rights issue. Participating landowners have property rights, but neighboring landowners do too.

When agricultural land becomes a utility-scale industrial site, its traffic, noise, lighting, emergency demands and wildlife effects may extend beyond the participating property. One owner’s industrial lease should not erase a neighbor’s right to the safe use and enjoyment of property.

This is not an argument against all wind energy. Wyoming is an energy state. The question is whether we will evaluate development responsibly at a regional level — or approve projects individually while overlooking their combined consequences.

The Industrial Council’s approval is not Laramie Range’s finish line. Aviation and military reviews, wildlife compliance, stateland authorizations, road and environmental permits, interconnection arrangements, final engineering and other prerequisites may remain. Every responsible agency must conduct its own review.

The public deserves a transparent regional accounting of construction schedules, workforce projections, housing demand, water use, truck traffic, emergency needs, wildlife effects and infrastructure costs. Before granting more permits, amendments or extensions, decision-makers should explain how the cumulative burden will be managed — and who will pay.

The Industrial Council may consider each project separately, but southeastern Wyoming’s land, wildlife, roads and people will bear them together.

Wyoming cannot responsibly plan this region’s future one permit at a time. Separate proceedings do not make cumulative impacts disappear — and they must not leave Wyoming taxpayers paying the bill.

WendyVolk is a Cheyenne real estate professional, community volunteer and organizer of the Wyoming Wind Wall Rally.

WENDY VOLK