Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Between the Wyoming Legislature’s 2023 General Session and the 2024 Budget Session, State Senator Ed Cooper (R-Ten Sleep) has been hard at work with his committees establishing priority issues to bring to the floor when the Budget Session starts on Feb. 11.
Cooper said, “One thing that’s going to be a challenge to us on all of these bills is that the upcoming session is a budget session, so anything that isn’t budget related must win a two-thirds majority vote to be considered on the floor. We’ll bring all these bills to present but it’s likely that many will not be considered.”
Despite the challenge, he added, “I think I’m happy with the work of my committees through the interim session. We knew that the availability of bills to bring up during the session was limited, so we tried to thin them out as best we could and come up with priority bills that we felt strongest about. I’m pretty comfortable with everything we did.”
JUDICIARY
COMMITTEE
Cooper attended all three of the interim meetings of the Judiciary Committee, spanning from April to November. A wide variety of issues were discussed in that time, ranging from minor wording changes to existing legislation to new legislation aiming to modernize Wyoming’s court systems.
Of the 11 pieces of legislation voted to be brought to the Budget Session, there is a clear winner for most controversial; designated as 24LSO-0284, this legislation would amend an existing act that provides guidelines for the legality of hemp products. As it stands, the legislation defines only the presence of delta-9 THC (the most common psychoactive chemical that naturally occurs in marijuana) as the terms for legality.
The rise of unregulated “legal weed” has presented issues for the current legislation; marijuana products that have been processed to remove delta-9 THC to meet compliance regulations, and often have it replaced with additional semi-synthetic delta-8 THC. The delta-8 industry in Wyoming currently exists in a legal grey area.
Cooper said, “The delta-8 issue has to do with some products that are being vaped, and there have been problems in schools across the state with that. We’re trying to get a better handle on how it’s being handled elsewhere and what we can implement here to deal with it.”
He added, “We have to be careful that as we’re trying to put protections out there from the delta-8 that we don’t interfere in the CBD industry. There are benefits to CBD use that have been demonstrated to us, but there is a fine line between wellness products labelled as “CBD” and products that are psychoactive, and we need to make sure that the CBDs that are on the market are cleaned up.”
The amendments to 24LSO-0284 would remove any ambiguity, making it illegal for a product to contain over 0.3% of THC by dry weight, regardless of its chemical composition. Possession of delta-8 THC, a mild psychoactive substance, would carry the same consequences as a Schedule 1 narcotic; it’s a clear message that recreational marijuana is not welcome in Wyoming.
MINERALS, BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
COMMITTEE
The minerals committee – who also had three meetings through the interim – selected another 11 bills to bring forward during the Budget Session with a clear focus on the future of Wyoming’s energy.
Cooper said, “There has been a lot of cleanup work on language on several issues. We streamlined the process of establishing a Class Six Oil Well, reducing the time it took to permit from two-to-three years to six-to-nine months, without jeopardizing safety or environmental issues.”
Asked how he thought the bills they worked on would be received, he said, “I don’t think there was much controversy in what we did this year; there were some questions on the severability of pore-space to surface ownership, and I think there’s a lot of work to be done on that before we move forward. The bill that was proposed is nowhere near ready.”
One of several issues surrounding carbon sequestration, Cooper refers here to 24LSO-0152 v0.5; a bill that defines the owner of the surface above the carbon dump as the owner of said carbon dump.
Cooper said, “There’s some question in that on which is the right way to go; some folks think that pore space ownership should be severable from surface ownership, others think that it’s a property rights issue. I believe that when you start telling a landowner what you can and can’t do with their property you’re stepping on dangerous grounds.”
The minerals committee had the opportunity to receive a presentation from the University of Wyoming’s School of Energy Resources, which Cooper found to be quite impressive. He said, “The School of Energy Resources continues to be just a top-shelf, world-class laboratory and innovation center. It’s a phenomenal facility, and something that the whole state of Wyoming needs to be very proud of. They continue to innovate in commercial uses of coal outside of energy production, and showed us studies being done on the Mowry Formation.”
The Mowry Formation is an enormous layer of shale containing oil and gas that stretches between Wyoming and all neighboring states into southern Canada, still rich in resources. The School of Energy Resources is undergoing studies in the Powder River Basin to better understand the complex ground structure.
SELECT FEDERAL NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
COMMITTEE
As a member of the Natural Resource Committee, Cooper has the honor of helping to manage the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Fund. He said, “That’s just a great program. It’s a $200 million trust fund managed by the State of Wyoming. Funds are managed by the Natural Resource Committee, who go out and leverage $6 million to $8 million each year with matching funds for use on developing wildlife habitat projects across the state. The work that has been done has included things like fish ladders, riparian restoration, forest cleanup, wildlife fencing and more. It’s really good work all across the state.”
Locally, Cooper said that a project to watch out for is upgrades to the canal intakes along the Big Horn River that would screen fish from entering canals, keeping them in their habitat. Cooper said the committee would meet again in January, and would have a full list of projects they are willing to fund ready at that time.
ENERGY COUNCIL
Cooper represented Wyoming on the Energy Council, a legislative organization represented by 15 energy-producing states and three Canadian provinces. He traveled the country speaking to legislators on energy issues, speaking in Washington, D.C., Little Rock, Arkansas, and even back to Jackson Hole. He said the main issue that his council has discussed has been, “The reliability of the grid, and how important it is to maintain our baseload generation. That seems to be the overall view.”
He said that through conferring with other council members, he became confident that Wyoming is in a good spot energy-wise. Cooper said, “Seeing the positions that different states are in, it’s very apparent that Wyoming is the forerunner in this area; we are kind of in the catbird seat here to move forward and be the national leader on the energy issue.”
For a full list of Committee Bills that may appear during the Budget Session, go to: wyoleg.gov/Legislation/committeeBills/2024.
