Connect with us

Cowboy State Daily

UW Analysis: Wyoming Could Lose $12.9B From Energy Moratorium

Wyoming could lose $12.9 billion in tax revenue if the energy moratorium implemented by President Joe Biden isn’t lifted in a timely manner, according to a University of Wyoming study.

Avatar photo

Published

on

This story first appeared on Cowboy State Daily

By Ellen Fike, Cowboy State Daily

Wyoming could lose $12.9 billion in tax revenue if the energy moratorium implemented by President Joe Biden isn’t lifted in a timely manner, according to a University of Wyoming study.

The UW’s Enhanced Oil Recovery Institute issued a report this week that detailed the impacts of the drilling and leasing moratorium on federal lands, something many Wyoming officials have raised concerns about.

Biden issued an executive order in late January halting new oil and gas leasing on federal land to allow the Department of Interior time to conduct a comprehensive review of the federal leasing program and existing fossil fuel leases.

Even though gas fields were excluded from the report, it concluded that Wyoming would lose billions of dollars due to the moratorium. According to the report, 67% of Wyoming’s recoverable oil reserves are at risk due to Biden’s executive order.

It also stated 47% of surface and 68% of minerals in Wyoming are found on or under federal lands, as are 60% of the minerals within oil basins in the state.

The report added that its lost tax revenue projection was just an estimate and did not include state mineral royalties, associated gas production, taxes on ancillary industries that support oil production or lost jobs.

Late last month, Gov. Mark Gordon and a number of his fellow Republican governors sent a letter to Biden, asking him to withdraw the order.

The governors were unified in their support for an “all of the above energy approach” that relies on both fossil and renewable energy sources and said that “as governors, we believe that solutions come from innovation, not regulation,” stressing the importance of state primacy for emission standards.

Last month, Gordon informed federal officials that he is prepared to take all necessary actions to protect Wyoming from unilateral actions targeting and crippling its energy industries.

Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow also joined four other western state school superintendents in asking Biden to reconsider the energy lockdown.

Their letter specifically noted that in Wyoming, the oil and natural gas industry contributed $740 million in K-12 education funding and $28 million to the state’s higher education system in 2019.

***For All Things Wyoming, Sign-Up For Our Daily Newsletter***

3 Comments

3 Comments

  1. Avatar photo

    Charles Cole

    March 4, 2021 at 5:15 pm

    So, are all y’all Democrats enjoying this yet? And, on top of this, just wait to see the wonderful effects of the Dems’ letting tens of thousands of “asylum seekers” into the country. Over 100 of them have already tested positive for COVID, but, no problem. Just waive ’em right on through. One has to wonder how much more evidence some of you are going to need before you understand what they have planned for us.

    • Avatar photo

      mark steingass

      March 5, 2021 at 9:12 am

      YES!!!…I am enjoying all of this!!!…it’s the way our government is intended to function with respect to “elections”…and better yet it’s referred to as “balance of power” as our forefathers had hoped for…get your solar panels up and wind generators too….those immigrants?…I read this somewhere…Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore….i believe this last sentence actually is referring to the impoverished, the poorly educated, and the unfortunate…what’s your ancestry?

    • Avatar photo

      Harriett Oleson

      March 5, 2021 at 12:41 pm

      You Betcha Charley!! I am sure Enjoying the change from the “Great Tweeter”. I am SURE not a Democrat but a proud Wyoming Republican {70+ Yrs.}, who can think deeper than a birdbath…. I will definitely take this over– RIDICULOUS election fraud LIES, over ripping children away from their mothers at the border, over inciting terrorists to overthrow my duly elected government, over childish name calling and false statements in countless tweets, over crooked cronies getting pardons, over on- camera sexual harassment, over consorting with Putins & Uns and other enemies of our country. Charley I could go on, the list of garbage left from this buffoon is endless. I wonder when you Trump worshipers are going to see the OBVIOUS evidence that Trump IS a serious threat to our great country. Seriously, Charley you sure don’t have to be a Democrat to understand what Trumpy Bear is, just open your mind and see past party dogma. Mark ask you a good question Charley, where is your family from?? Ask any Native American who the Real Aliens are..

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *