Wyoming’s dominant Republican Party is in turmoil over the fraught topic of climate change, an important issue in the nation’s largest coal producer and location for the largest uranium reserves and second largest uranium production.
The issue pits the state’s governor, Mark Gordon, who is pushing a policy position that the Cowboy State should work to reduce its carbon footprint, against an important Republican state senator, Cheri Steinmetz and what may be a majority of her GOP colleagues. It’s entirely internecine. Ballotpedia describes Wyoming’s politics: “Wyoming has a Republican trifecta and a Republican triplex. The Republican Party controls the offices of governor, secretary of state, attorney general, and both chambers of the state legislature.”
This week, Gordon chaired a two-day (Feb. 7-8) Western Governor’s Association “Decarbonizing the West Initiative Workshop” in Denver, hosted by Colorado’s Democratic Gov., Jared Polis. The workshop focused on direct air capture of CO2, transport, and storage. The week before, the Cowboy State Daily reported, “Gordon and the Wyoming Energy Authority confirmed six projects focusing on carbon reduction, renewable energy and carbon capture to receive a share of $157 million in federal, private and state money.
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