A proposed wind farm in Laramie County that promises jobs and increased revenue is dividing ranchers and landowners, with some concerned about the initiative’s impact on their private properties.
According to a letter obtained by Cowboy State Daily, Spanish energy giant Repsol notified landowners in the Horse Creek area of its development plans as early as June.
According to the document, the company intends to build up to 170 wind turbines on approximately 50,000 acres of private ranchland and 6,150 acres of state land as part of the Laramie Range Wind Project initiative.
The letter states that wind turbine components may be transported down Wyoming Highway 211, also known as Horse Creek Road.
The letter extols the project’s anticipated socioeconomic and environmental benefits, claiming that it could create up to 131 jobs on the project site each month while emitting zero carbon, sulfur, nitrogen, or mercury emissions.
“Based on the comprehensive environmental surveys and analyses completed for the Project to date, this project is not anticipated to pose a threat of serious injury to environmental resources in accordance with all applicable regulatory requirements and guidance,” according to the paper.
The project is scheduled to begin construction in 2027 and last until November 2029.
Despite these anticipated benefits, some residents are concerned that the Laramie Range Wind Project will endanger local wildlife and disrupt the tranquility of the surrounding environment.
“Repsol consistently engages with local stakeholders throughout the development process to understand and address their concerns, as part of the company’s commitment to being a good neighbor and generating shared value with the community,” the business said in an email to Cowboy State Weekly.
“The company is actively integrating the feedback it has received from numerous meetings with local stakeholders into the project development plan and will continue engaging in open dialogue with the community throughout the project.”
Blow it Off
Guy DonCarlos, a homeowner along the haul route, said the project concerns him because he is unclear about whether it is meant to help Wyoming.
“Where is the power going?” he inquired during a phone call with Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday. “Is this power intended for Wyoming at all? Is it going to California, Washington, or Oregon? And if so, why don’t they put these things up on their own land?”
DonCarlos added that he prefers to live in the Horse Creek area because of its remoteness and proximity to nature. DonCarlos predicted that the wind project would have a negative impact on how he and his neighbors enjoy nature.
“The big thing is why are they tearing up the Wyoming vistas to put up the boondoggle wind farms?” he inquired.” “So far I have not spoken to anybody who is in favor of these [wind projects.]”
Wendy Volk is a shareholder in Dereemer Ranch, a state-designated historic district on Horse Creek Road. She stated in a Cowboy State Daily letter to the editor that the project could also cause traffic problems due to an increase in construction vehicles passing through the area.
“WYDOT traffic data shows Horse Creek Road and I-25 currently handles about 2600 vehicles per day,” according to her. “Project estimates indicate during peak construction, over 3,500 vehicles and trucks would clog Horse Creek Road daily.”
“This is not only a safety issue but also an environmental one,” says Volk. “Wildlife is most active at dawn and dusk, the same times traffic will spike.”
Volk, a Cheyenne-based realtor, added that she is not completely opposed to the project and is willing to support it if her neighbors decide it is best for the community. Her goal, she told Cowboy State Daily via email, is to foster communication between the public and project organizers.
“I encourage more public dialogue regarding this large industrial wind project on 56,000 acres,” she said in an email. “Projects of this size have far-reaching and irreversible consequences for our community.”
“The failure to address temporary, and permanent, impacts on traffic, emergency services, wildlife, and water use, among many other consequences, should alarm all county residents,” according to her. “Most citizens do not know about this project and we must share the facts.”
Repsol, for its part, stated that the project will provide numerous benefits.
“Repsol is proud to be present in Wyoming, where the Laramie Range Wind project is expected to generate significant economic benefits for the local community including an estimated $32 million in sales tax revenue during construction and $190 million in property and production tax revenue over the life of the project,” according to a statement from the firm.
“Repsol is committed to working with all of its stakeholders to continue advancing the Laramie Range Wind project to develop mutually beneficial solutions and enable a clean energy future.”
Wind in Our Sails
Michael Stoellinger, an associate engineering professor at the University of Wyoming, said the proposed project area constitutes a “superb” position for new wind development due to the prevalence of sustained high-speed gusts.
Such developments, he added, coincide with the rise of artificial intelligence data centers. He believes that the combined impact of these facilities working together could significantly boost the state’s economy.
“If we consider these data centers to be reasonable means of diversifying the economy in Wyoming, then co-locating them with clean electrical power generation, such as wind energy, makes a lot of sense,” he said in a statement shared with Cowboy State Daily.
“Other potential candidates for economic diversification could be energy-intense manufacturing processes which would also benefit from the availability of cheap and clean electrical power.”
With traditional resources such as coal and gas on the verge of depletion, Stoellinger believes wind could be a powerful alternative.
“We don’t quite know how fast existing coal/gas fired production will go offline, but recent trends show that not much new capacity from these sources is being added,” according to him. “New nuclear power plants take exceptionally long before they are permitted and built and will not be the near-term solution either.”
Matt Micheli, a Cheyenne attorney from a fifth-generation ranching family, told Cowboy State Daily via email that wind projects like these can sometimes provide much-needed income to ranchers who are considering selling their properties.
“What people don’t understand are these wind projects are saving family ranches,” according to him. “This is a private property issue. Do you have the right to develop your private property?
Ranchers, he added, should be free to use their land as they see fit and not be bound by their neighbors’ expectations.
“Your right to look at somebody else’s land shouldn’t trump somebody else’s right to make a living off their own property,” she said.
Mark Eisele, former president of the National Cattleman’s Beef Association, also told Cowboy State Daily that the Laramie Range Wind Project is more environmentally friendly than other larger resource-intensive developments.
“A lot of folks don’t realize [housing developments] are the ones that displace wildlife, they’re the ones that use water,” he told me. “Wind farms don’t use any water; they don’t misplace wildlife.”
Eisele went on to say that ranchers should be able to decide how to best use their land. Some community opposition, he suggested, could be attributed to “green envy,” or jealousy generated by those who profit from selling land to energy developers.
At the end of the day, Eisele believes Wyoming landowners must look out for themselves.
“This ultimately boils down to a private property rights issue,” Eisele told reporters. “I’ve seen this happen in places like California where you’re not even allowed to walk across your property because it offends other people that you’re disturbing their view.”
“Wyoming needs to be able to use their property, they need to use it properly and I genuinely believe that these farms really are ok,” he told reporters.
Similar Projects Remain Unpopular
The Laramie Range Wind Project is not the only proposal to earn the ire of Wyoming residents. Converse County rancher Mike Stephens told Cowboy State Daily Tuesday he is concerned a similar proposal near his multi-generation ranch could harm the habitat of local sage grouse, which he refers to as “sage chickens.”
“The damaging part is to sage chickens, that shadow,” Stephens said of the towering wind turbines. “I am not sure if you have ever seen chickens, domestic chickens, or any other bird. If they see a shadow, they run because they know a bird of prey will catch them.”
Stephens is now leading the charge against the Pronghorn H2 project proposal, which his attorney Patrick Lewallen believes is based on an illegitimate lease granted by the Board of Land Commissioners.
“I think a threshold question is whether or not the rules that have been adopted by the state Land Board allow for them to turn to a wind lease for this type of project,” Lewallen told the Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday. “I think it’s a lot different than other projects you’ve seen around the state, and I think that’s a threshold question that we’re asking the district court to look at.”
Paul Martin, president of Focus Clean Energy, argued that his company’s project has always followed the rules.
“The Pronghorn project, located primarily on private land, has and will continue to abide by Wyoming laws and regulations as it relates to our wind lease that was approved by the State Lands Investment Board in April of this year.”
