EVANSTON — A community forum, Cowboy State Economy: Energy, Education and Innovation, was held on Wednesday, Nov. 6, in the Portland-Rose room at the Evanston Roundhouse. Speakers included Gov. Mark Gordon, Sen. Wendy Schuler, Mayor Kent Williams, Senior Research Director Scott Quillinan and local business leader Nathan Prete.

“Uinta County is a place that I’ve always had enormous respect for,” Gordon said as he greeted attendees. “You’ve done it without calling on Cheyenne; you’ve done it on your own. It’s sort of the Wyoming way.”

Gordon updated locals on the 1,872 devastating fires that have occurred throughout the state during 2024, citing the state’s early planning in securing assets such as single engine air tankers. The fires — which have burned more than 900,000 acres of both county and private land — has used up $53 million allocated for relief in about two months.

Touching on education, Gordon expressed a desire to promote “earn while you learn” programs and apprenticeships to get students in the job market early. “Engage our students, rather than test them to death. Engage them in learning,” he said. He also said that this is the last year for the Wyoming Innovation Partnership (WIP) program.

Gordon segued into presenting figures regarding population, stating that “we have a 6% net in-migration of people 64 and older, and a net out-migration of people of 20-63 [years old] of 4%. Wyoming is aging much faster than some of our peers,” he said, adding that he’d like to reverse that trend so that kids stay here, through finding opportunities.

“Wyoming is now more diverse than it has been in its history, economically,” Gordon said, adding that he’d like to see educational programming become more responsive to industry.

Gordon then introduced Evanston native Quillinan, who is the Senior Research Director of the School of Energy Resources (SER), a multi-disciplinary school and quasi-state lab that focuses on research, outreach and academics, at the University of Wyoming (UW). “Wyoming is an energy state...but we don’t use that energy here, we make it here but we send it everywhere else,” he said, discussing the varying needs and policies of energy purchasers, such as No. 1 natural gas consumer California and coal in Texas. Quillinan told attendees that his 48-person team at UW is “looking out there 10-20 years, what do we need to develop, what do we need to do now so that we can continue to be competitive as energy leaders 20 years from now.”

Quillinan discussed lucrative energy opportunities at his accelerated research program including: oil and gas exploration and production, methane detection, critical minerals, hydrogen, nuclear and carbon engineering and capture use and storage.

An incoming southwest Wyoming project is the Sweetwater Carbon Storage Hub near Grainger. “This is going to be the first carbon storage hub in the state of Wyoming,” Quillinan said. The project will be a collaboration with Frontier Carbon Solutions.

“We were challenged by the legislature a few years ago to figure out new ways to use coal,” Quillinan continued, “so we developed the carbon engineering program.”  Quillinan produced a carbon-based black brick manufactured from coal char. “It has a thermal conductive capacity to it, so if you build a house out of this brick, it comes with its own insulation. It stays cool in the summer, hot in the winter. This is just one piece of innovation that we’re working on at the SER.” 

Quillinan also said that the school is currently testing carbon-based insulation and asphalt.

“If you could pave every street in Wyoming, what that could do for our industry!” Quillinan said.

Before acquiescing the stage to Schuler, Quillinan highlighted the efforts made by his program at UW to retain graduates in the state, citing that of 58 full-time staff, 77% of those graduated from Laramie.

“If we can get folks to come back and be a part of our community after they’ve gone out and spread their wings, that’s what makes us strong, that’s what makes us diverse...it is the people,” Schuler said. She walked the audience through Uinta County’s history, beginning with the railroad, then as a coal mining town, then ranching and agriculturally-dependent culminating with one of the largest employers, the Wyoming State Hospital.

“The bottom line is that we never quit moving forward,” she said, acknowledging the collaborative efforts of the Overthrust Industrial Association in the wake of the oil boom in the 1970s — which would help fund the Evanston Rec Center, the Human Services building, improved public schools, expanded the hospital and built the wastewater treatment plant.

Schuler celebrated the rehabilitative and diversification efforts of the Urban Renewal Agency (URA) that “really revitalized our town,” and highlighted employers Carbon Fiber, Union Tank, Clean Energy and Spire as agencies that “bought into the community and they give back to the community.” Schuler suggested not over-regulating companies, such as an unnamed mineral-processing plant and electronic vehicle waste companies that have shown interest in relocating to Uinta County.

“We’re considered a little bit of a recreation mecca,” Schuler added, highlighting the county’s tourism offerings such as Purple Sage Golf Course, Bear Board Trails and Ponds, BRORA yurts, Southwest Wyoming Offroad Trails (SWOT) board and the Wyoming Downs.

Schuler — a retired educator — admitted that we have a “great education system here...we might need to work on [competitive salaries] a little bit.”

“We’re doing some really good things in Evanston … if we hadn’t, we’d still be a community of 4,500 instead of 12,000,” Schuler said of the ongoing economic diversification efforts.

Dustbusters Enterprises Vice President Prete said of his family, “We decided to come back to Evanston on purpose … we feel like we’re invested in this community. We’ve seen our company grow,” he said. Dustbusters offers dust control and soil stabilization, de-icing, agricultural-safe options and an array of industrial options. “We started doing dust control for coal mines...we do copper mines, gold mines, and everything else there is … we also treat for wind farms. It’s important to capture ‘all of the above,’” citing the Governor’s energy policy.

Prete also noted the importance of taking advantage of Evanston’s location on the railroad and I-80 and its proximity to the Wasatch Front.

“Another project I’ve worked on is carbon capture,” he continued.  “A company that we’re involved in is doing green cement … take bio char and grind it up and put it into concrete … that could be done anywhere and it might as well be done here.”

“The idea is there’s plenty of opportunities,” Prete said before quoting Winston Churchill, “‘Pessimists see the difficulty in every opportunity; and optimists see the opportunity in every difficulty.’ I think there’s plenty of reason to be optimistic in what we have here in southwest Wyoming.”

“The best thing the city of Evanston can do to promote business, in my mind, is to simply get out of the way of any opportunity we can,” Williams said. “Create a situation where businesses can be successful, then get out of the way.”

The mayor stressed the importance of ensuring an infrastructure that can accommodate growth. “We have room for all the things that are going on … it’s a little scary but it’s exciting. Certainly, there’s going to be some growing pains … but it’s a good problem to have.”

Before opening the floor to public questions and concerns, Gordon reiterated an awareness of concerns regarding teaching salaries and losing healthcare workers to other states, before pivoting to the positive economic boost of the incoming Natrium plant in nearby Kemmerer.

Rayne Powers and Lanaya Hatch implored the governor for help avoiding the closure of the labor and delivery department at Evanston Regional Hospital (ERH), which is slated to occur Dec. 30.

“They will lose their jobs,” Powers said. Hatch insinuated that there were discrepancies between the hospital’s reported number of births in their recent press release.

“We were given numbers from the hospital stating that a small amount of babies were being birthed a month; in reality it’s far more than that,” Hatch told Gordon.

Hatch was also concerned that the majority of currently pregnant women that she knew were on Medicaid, and couldn’t afford to travel long distances for prenatal care and delivery, often in dangerous winter driving conditions.

“This is an issue that we have really been concerned about for a while,” Gordon replied, saying that his administration has been looking into how remote communities in Alaska approached the issue. “What they’re looking at is trying to establish not only housing but support structures around centers -— Evanston potentially could be one of those that will allow a mother with a high-risk pregnancy to be able to...be in a location proximate to where there is a center. This is all formative.”

Registered nurse Courtney Bettinson — who has been with ERH’s labor and delivery department for a dozen years — voiced her and her colleagues’ devastation. She implored the governor for help to stop the department’s impending closure, saying that “we are on a very tight timeline to potentially save our department … once they close it, if they decide to reopen it, it’s going to be very difficult to find positions and train labor nurses.”

“The hospital has opened up six different positions for us,” she continued, stating that of the 17 current labor and delivery nurses, “that leaves 11 of us that will be forced to leave Wyoming and take our skills to Utah.”

She said that she had been informed, though not confirmed, that nearby Park City, Utah, also does not offer full-time labor and delivery services.

Bettinson, too, said that having gone through birthing records also said, “Our [annual birth] numbers were severely understated by about 50% ... our lowest average has been eight deliveries, the year after our main OB had left and we were in a transition period.”   

“This is a critical resource for our community,” Bettinson stressed to the panel.

Williams said that he has been having conversations with the doctors “looking into what we can do to change this … the effects are overarching … I hear you, I hear what’s been said, I’m personally looking into different options to pursue changing the decision if at all possible.”

Williams also voiced concerns about the community’s economic development in light of the department’s closure.

Gordon suggested that Bettinson and supporters contact Jen Davis, a senior health and human services policy advisor to his office, and that he was also willing to make a phone call, write a letter and support in any way. Schuler offered the same.

Marie Adams, a local midwife, advised the panel that 10% of babies will require extra healthcare intervention that midwives would not be able to offer as they perform their duties in homes.

“Mr. Mayor, if the hospital wants to have a business license, could you just say … ‘You have to offer full services at your hospital?’” Adams also suggested a compromise with currently-expectant mothers to offer services through their due date.

Williams responded, “If I have the opportunity to strong-arm them, I’m not afraid of doing that,” and reiterated that he’s awaiting suggestions from the doctors involved. Schuler said, “It is a private hospital, that is the tough part, I’m happy to meet with the CEO … write some letters, have our voices heard, I’m happy to start the ball rolling on my end as well.”

Jeff Green, of Evanston, approached the podium on two separate occasions. The first was to inquire about Gordon’s participation in a 60 Minutes segment: “Red and Green.”

“The coal industry has been taking a hit, particularly over the last four years. Oil and gas was, too … Wyoming is an ‘all of the above energy state.’ We’re willing to do anything we can for any of our industries, but we’re also going to do it in a way that’s going to make a difference,” Gordon said, referring to climate change.

Green further questioned the current status of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) proposed Resource Management Plan (RMP) that will affect southwest Wyoming, primarily neighboring Sweetwater County. Gordon responded that approximately three days earlier, he submitted a consistency review letter to the BLM with comments from each of the counties with a list of issues in non-compliance with the state.

Gordon said, “We have been working very hard trying to reduce the buffer on either side of historic trails … we’ve also worked on making sure that valid and existing rights are protected.”

He also said that the BLM will likely issue a record of decision “within probably the next month,” though admitted that the recent Presidential election results might affect the ultimate outcome and/or timeline.

Uinta BOCES No. 1 Executive Director Sheila McGuire said she was concerned about vocational training. According to McGuire, while her institution secured grant funding from WIP to offer and equip an electrical instrumentation program, “we can’t hire a full-time instructor because we can’t pay them what they can make in the field. What are our solutions for that?” McGuire said.

Gordon acknowledged that “appropriation comes from the legislature,” and that funding is based on numbers indicating relevancy and whether it’s a worthwhile investment.  Quillinan chimed in to inform McGuire about a new program Energy EELC — Energy, Engagement, Leadership and Careers — which is focusing on emerging technologies. Gordon added that WIP was established to engage directly with industry partnerships.

Schuler promoted private/public partnerships, wondering if wealthy Teton County had funding for such concerns, and thinking outside of the box.

Pioneer Counseling Case Manager Bobbi Brown was worried about the turnaround time between applying for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and approval of benefits.  Gordon admitted that a recent behavioral health redesign was created to “help support folks as they reenter...it is something we’re working on,” he said.

Schuler said that she participated in the redesign program and they were working “to prioritize folks that need it the most … the quickest,” explaining a needs-based tier-system. “I think it’s going to get better,” she said.

Naughton coal plant operation supervisor Matt Morrow told the governor that the employees needed for the transition to the incoming TerraPower Natrium plant will be difficult to fulfill due to unaffordable/unavailable housing options.

“There’s not an easy fix,” replied Gordon, “we are looking at ways to build less expensive housing...it is assembly line housing, it reduces the cost of the house, but it’s the land ... [that’s] what’s really complicated.”

Gordon explained that legislators were uncomfortable with the notion of offering state sections of land for housing.

“What are the things we can do to reduce the regulatory hurdles that make it expensive to build in communities, one, and then two, we’ve also been looking at ways we can facilitate infrastructure build,” Gordon said. “... This is a top priority for us...we are working on it.”

Schuler said she’s hoping to pass bills to speed up the building permits.

Lincoln County Commission Chief of Staff Stephen Allen took to the podium to address Morrow’s housing concerns.

He said that a major developer has contributed $10 million dollars to construct 1,500 houses and apartments in Kemmerer to accommodate the influx of workers. Four hundred of those homes have already been platted and are manufactured.

“They can generally put in 40 a month,” once final platting is approved, he said.

“Thank you for coming out this evening. Please feel free to contact Wendy,” the Governor joked. “I really appreciate the opportunity for a conversation; let me just say once again this is an amazing community.”