Latest Wyoming News

WIND POWER PROJECTS

PacifiCorp proposes big build of Rocky Mountain region wind

CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — A utility proposes to build six wind farms that could supply enough electricity for over 1 million homes in Wyoming and other states by 2024. Portland, Oregon-based PacifiCorp announced the plan this week. The wind farms would add more than 1,600 megawatts of power capacity in Wyoming. Combined with PacifiCorp’s plans for solar, battery power and transmission proposals, the utility would add 3,200 megawatts of capacity. PacifiCorp isn’t saying yet where specifically the projects will be built. The Casper Star-Tribune reports the proposals would concentrate wind development in Wyoming and Idaho, and solar and battery development in Utah and Oregon.

SHOSHONE NATION-HUNTING RIGHTS

Northwestern Band of Shoshone sues Idaho over hunting rights

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation is suing Idaho Gov. Brad Little and state wildlife officials in federal court, contending the state has wrongly denied the tribe hunting rights guaranteed by the 1868 Treaty of Fort Bridger. The lawsuit, filed in Idaho’s U.S. District Court earlier this week, asks a judge to declare that the Northwestern Band is protected under the treaty, and so its members have the right to hunt on unoccupied lands. Attorneys for the state didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The Northwestern Band historically hunted, gathered and fished in an area including southeastern and southern Idaho, western Wyoming and northern Utah. 

NATIONAL MONUMENT-BAT DISEASE

White-nose syndrome confirmed in Wyoming bats for 1st time

GILLETTE, Wyo. (AP) — Two bats from northeastern Wyoming’s Devils Tower National Monument have been found with the state’s first confirmed cases of a deadly fungal disease. White-nose syndrome has killed millions of bats in North America since the fungus first appeared in New York in 2006. Testing showed signs of the fungus in bats from southeastern Wyoming in 2018. Devils Tower resource management chief Russ Cash calls the recent confirmation at the park “disheartening and frustrating.” The Gillette News Record reports the positive test results are no surprise after cases in neighboring states. The disease has appeared in at least 37 states and seven Canadian provinces.

WESTERN HEAT WAVE-EXPLAINER

EXPLAINER: What’s behind the heat wave in the American West?

PHOENIX (AP) — Much of the American West has been blasted with sweltering heat this week as a high pressure dome combines with the worst drought in modern history to launch temperatures into the triple digits. Record daily highs have been seen this week in parts of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Montana, Wyoming and Utah even before the official start of summer. Phoenix is baking in some of the U.S. West’s hottest weather and hit a record-breaking 118 degrees Thursday. Climate scientists say the early arrival and intensity of the heat wave have much to do with a long-running drought gripping the region and climate change.