HERE IN WYOMING THE CLIMATE IS CHANGING,

AND SO, TOO, ARE THE ENERGY POLICIES, MARKETS, AND ECONOMIC PRIORITIES AROUND US.

The only question that remains is this: What is Wyoming going to do about it?

Wyoming Outdoor Council

I have a Republican friend who lives in a small town in Wyoming and who works for an NGO focused on climate change. It’s easy to make friends with Republicans in the smallest state in the union by population (583,279 and declining vs. 1,2440,000 cattle) since, as of November 2023, they make up 81.7 percent of the electorate. The Dems at 10.7 percent barely edge out the total of Libertarians and Unaffiliated at 7.5 percent. Wyoming has been on my mind since I wrote about how the State Treasury, the Wyoming Banking Association, the Petroleum Association, and the Wisconsin Retirement System managed to stop some of the idiotic anti-ESG legislation earlier this year that is now popular in Red states (with marginal success).

But the battle rages on in Wyoming, this time focused on climate change where the Republican (what else, right?) two-term Governor Mark Gordon is the target of the ire of the state’s Freedom Caucus—who are no doubt making its national founder, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), very proud! I remain hopeful to hearing from Mr. Jordan on the letter I wrote him late last year. I also hope he appreciates how his important work as Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee has enabled me to conclusively demonstrate that the American Petroleum Association is an ESG Cartel.

Ancient deep coal workings in surface coal mine | GETTY

I was tipped to this Republican ruckus in the state capital of Cheyenne (pop. 65,000) by a recent article published in WyoFile titled “GOP hardliners say Gordon’s shifted on carbon. But he’s shared the same vision for years” which my friend sent to me, saying she was very proud of her governor. I can see why. The story is a remarkable example of how the now entrenched extreme right populist political ideology is, sadly and ironically, at odds with the interests of the state’s citizens.

It all started when Mr. Gordon delivered his “Wyoming State of the State 2023” address on January 11, 2023 (transcript). An entire section is devoted to Natural Resources (Energy, Water, and Agriculture). In it he pounds the Biden Administration. “Unfortunately, with energy we do not seem to have reliable partners in the Biden Administration. It is no exaggeration that the Biden Administration appears more interested in partnering with Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, than they are with Wyoming.” Elaborating on this he argues “that our economy, way of life and national security demand all the energy that Wyoming can produce” and wishes that the Biden Administration was “extending a handshake to Wyoming energy producers” rather than “giving first (sic) bumps to OPEC leaders.”

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