Gordon: wind leases a nod to property rights and economic development
June 23, 2025
CHEYENNE, WY., – Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon said his vote approving potential wind development on state land in Niobrara and Converse Counties isn’t a slight to the state’s other industries, but a nod to private property rights and economic development.
The wind projects garnering headlines and causing tension among neighbors will produce energy to convert to clean hydrogen. Used in refining and fertilizer production, this project’s hydrogen is slated to produce aviation fuel for Denver International Airport. The plant itself, which is in the early planning stages to be built near Glenrock, Gordon said, wasn’t part of the vote to allow wind leasing on state lands, as it is anticipated that it will be built on private land.
The wind leasing, he said, isn’t exclusive or unlike oil and gas leases or coalbed methane in that it could be on a parcel also leased for grazing.
“Our job as the State Land Board is to optimize for the benefit of Wyoming schools,” he said. “That’s our job, subject to restrictions by the legislature.”
Cuts to green energy projects at the federal level may affect the profitability of potential projects but the leases, he said the leases aren’t contingent upon receiving federal funding. If the lessee is unable to meet the obligations they’ve committed to, then they are subject to the parameters of the lease and the payment requirements.
“The profitability of the project may be somewhat up in the air with the change in tax benefits,” Gordon said. “There’s no secret that the reason wind has done so well across the West is because of the tax benefits that were afforded to it across the last several years. In fact, the speed with which a lot of these projects were stood up was dependent upon a worry that those tax benefits would go away. There was both an incentive to develop these projects, but also an incentive to develop them before the tax benefits went away.”
The tax benefits, he said, were all federal policies. Gordon said he has railed against manipulating the market with tax incentives and benefits for a long time, particularly on renewables.
“I always thought they should stand on their own,” he said. “There are other tax benefits that accrue to other energy enterprises like stripper wells and other things like that, too. It’s a complicated package. One of the things we’ve worked on diligently – (Sen.) John Barasso was great on this- was to ensure we balance the tax benefits for things like enhanced oil recovery, so they brought that a little bit back. That’s a Congressional conversation that’s going to happen. If those tax benefits go away, I think they change the economics of these projects.”
Secretary of State Chuck Gray cast the dissenting vote to approve wind leases on state land and said the project is successful only through Obama and Biden-era federal subsidies.
“I don’t view this as in line with the long-term benefit of the trust beneficiaries and that played a pivotal role in my no vote,” Gray said. “I was the only no vote on the State Board of Land Commissioners on this project. You look at it and overwhelmingly the people of Wyoming don’t want this, the public comment was overwhelmingly opposed at our meeting on this.”
Prior to the lease approval of state land, Gordon said there were a number of private landowners hoping to be a part of the wind projects, both the Sidewinder and the Antelope.
“I do understand,” he said. “We faced a similar thing just west of (Laramie) where there was a lot of concerted opposition to a state wind lease on the Rail Tie Project and I think these things are going to happen.”
Gordon said in some cases, opponents of wind projects hope that by removing the state lands, the project will be derailed. He said he understands that.
“My particular issue though is that you ought to have the right to develop on your private property just as you would with oil and gas or any other enterprise that’s yours within the restrictions already in state regulations.”
Gordon said the state land board heard some opposition from adjoining landowners whose view scape will be affected by turbine construction thereby reducing their property values. The issue, though, he said, by opposing the wind leases on state land could affect the ability of private landowners to develop but not likely cause enough disruption to halt the project entirely.
The larger issue for many is water, Gordon said.
“What I’ve hear more from Niobrara County folks is that our water is really precious, and if we’re going to be turning it into hydrogen, it’s going to be one more use and it’s going to take water away from us and we already don’t have enough water,” he said. “I understand that issue as well. People are forgetting that water rights are sacred in Wyoming, and you can’t just show up and build something and expect to get the water.”
That portion of the project, he said, is still in development and wasn’t within the scope of what the state land board voted upon. All yet to come are permitting the plant, getting the water, and all the things that will mitigate environmental consequences and the siting process are all far from complete.
The Wyoming vistas and the ability to look out across the open range is precious, he said, and the state must do a better job of taxing resources.
“Way back when wind was just getting started, the legislature wrestled a lot and nobody wanted to do anything about taxing wind for fear it would move development to another part of the country,” he said. “Maybe the horse has left the barn a little bit, but in my mind this resource is here and for people who are developing it on private property, of which there are several in Converse County and now Niobrara County, that’s revenue that spends just as well as oil and gas.”
In Niobrara County, that revenue is important. Gordon said a rancher friend told him that without economic development, the challenges mount and so does the possibility of drying up and blowing away.
“The tax revenues from this wind project are going to be important for Niobrara,” he said. “I would hope that neighbors would get along with neighbors. I know it’s gotten pretty dicey there, there’s a lot of hard feelings and that happens but I hope that can get repaired. I don’t think anyone is out there to ruin anyone else’s livelihood, but they’re protective of what their rights are, and they perceive those rights a little differently.”
Gordon said his goal is for all stakeholders to air their concerns and that revenue sources for private property landowners don’t get taken away from them, but that the essential character of that landscape is preserved and that kids that grown up in Niobrara County are proud of what their parents have been able to accomplish and have a future.
Gordon said he visited Niobrara County High School in Lusk and students posed a number of questions about the affect of turbines on wildlife populations, grazing, and other land uses. Raptors, he said, seem to be particularly adversely affected by wind development, though the research is scarce. That line of questioning, he said, was interesting especially in light of the Wyoming grizzly bear population, which he said is fully recovered, have twice been delisted, and are still not under the management of the state of Wyoming while other species experiencing more peril are not receiving the attention they deserve.
Gordon said he has worked diligently to ensure that the former Wyoming Game and Fish director, Brian Nesvick, was considered to lead the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Nesvick is still awaiting Senate confirmation.
“There’s an urgency now to making sure we get the agenda that brings back more balanced management across the finish line,” he said. “We’re six months into the Trump administration and I was glad to be there in D.C. for the Eos, there’s been a lot of movement, but we need some of these other pieces to fill in behind so we can make some really intelligent land use resource management decisions going forward.”
For agriculture, he said, it is essential that producers have the ability to do what is needed to protect livestock, livelihood, and the range. These issues, he said, are going to be continuing to go forward.”
Source: Rachel Gabel, The Fence Post Magazine and Western Ag Network
Photo by Brandie Collins, Lusk Herald
