That used to be a common bumper sticker in our state, seen on the back of ranch, welding, oil field service trucks, and even on Cadillac’s and Lincolns. Not so much anymore, and I miss seeing that sticker, it reminds me why I love it so much. There are many reasons to love the ‘Big Empty’, vast open spaces cornered on almost three sides by the greatest mountain ranges in the nation, and none of the highly populated states political and social garbage.
Here in Wyoming we are used to being energy independent, energy rich, highly productive, and very protective of our way of life. Personally I consider our state one of the very last bastions of sanity in the country. While we have enjoyed steady and stable growth, with a current GDP of $48.8 billion, I hope others see the ice berg poking out of the sea of darkness ahead.
A few weeks ago the BLM following the direction of Jennifer Granholm the fearless leader of the DOE, along with being in lock step with our Presidents reckless charge to stop climate change, decided to end mining leases in the Powder River Basin arguably the BTU richest chunk of ground in the world. This move if not reversed does not bode well for us. Coal production and other mining are a large chunk of our GDP. The you couple it with this bit of stupidity, HB 0200 Act 79 requiring carbon capture on all of our coal fleet. There have been numerous articles here on Substack by many authors,
(and many others), on the futility of many of the knee jerk energy policy decisions across the Nation. The two above decisions alone, by the BLM and our own Legislature is a death nail for our coal fleet.Our Coal Fleet consists of power plants owned by several companies, Black Hills Energy Pacificorp Basin Electric Power Coop and some small ones like those owned by the various Trona Mines, in order to get ahead of that stupid regulation several generators are working on Natural Gas conversions, some are playing with carbon capture, and some are simply planning to close. But wait, there is more! The feds also took their regulator machine gun to Oil and Gas by increasing lease rates for O&G. Wyoming is home to a multitude of O&G companies, small, medium, and large. We have a town named Sinclair for a reason. Hell it has an oil refinery on its city web page.
But wait, there is more! Okay the Feds have attacked coal, oil and gas, so what is left to attack in Wyoming, well Cowboys of course. It seems that killing fossil fuels is not enough to quench the thirst of the climate driven cultism of the current administration, now we need to kill Cowboys too. From endangered bugs to the ridiculous RFID Ear Tags and other rules, and lack of rules (i.e. country of origin labels) for meat producers, the EPA now wants to extend methane rules to Ag producers. No one that I know of has even figured out how measure the amount of methane the average Angus produces as it grazes in the Big Empty. You can do it in a lab, but you cannot on the open range. When a beastie grazes, it takes in many different types of grasses, and cow burps are based on what they eat, not just because they are a cow. A beef that eats corn silage will burp far more than one that eats prairie hay. I will qualify that for anyone that asks. I grew up on a farm.
Well, there you have it, the ice berg that sunk the Titanic, because if you kill those three industries in our beloved state, all the rest fall like dominos, including mine. I do not know how many Wyomingites feel the way I do, but I do know several that do. I am also sure that the elite clowns in Jackson Hole, Teton Village, Laramie and Cheyenne are all for the death of our way of life, maybe not all of them, but most of them sure seem to be. That being said, I really want us to go back to, and quickly; Welcome to Wyoming, We don’t give a damn how you did it where you are from!
It feels as though the Federal Government has taken direct aim at us with its double barrel regulatory shot gun. Well, they may want to think about that, shooting at Cowboys can be unhealthy. We export energy, a lot of it. We export skilled labor, a lot of it, we mind our own business, best mind yours. We want to be good neighbors, we want you to be good neighbors, please close the gate behind you when you leave. We have towns named after people, chili, cows, oil, coal, soda ash, Native Americans, a French fruit cake, straight razors, a ghost, and a cattle baron, and a lot of other random things. Come, visit and enjoy, and go home. Oh and a note to, and for the average Montana folks, Yellowstone is in Wyoming, we only loan you a small tiny piece of it, stop claiming it as yours, you have Kevin Costner, you can keep him.
I hope you enjoyed the read, I have not posted in a while because I have been home. Let me know or leave a comment with your thoughts. Be well and Cowboy Up!
It seems to me, that Wyoming needs to carry on with business as usual. Taking jobs away from individuals who provide for families or dollars from Wyomings GDP is none of the Federal Governments business. Reclaim Independence and Freedom. Free men don’t ask for permission.
Are the “Big Wonderful Wyoming” mudflaps still common on the pickups? I remember lots of those growing up in Wyoming as a kid.
And yeah, the feds are after the state. So much of Wyoming is Federal land- NPS, BLM, Forest Service. If/when there are people in those organizations with pro-West values, things go okay. But when the Swamp/Coastal Elites come in, things get hairy.
If there’s a sign of where Wyoming should absolutely not go, look South. So much of Colorado has been completely colonized.