Wyoming governor tells EPA state law prevents greenhouse gas regulations sought by feds

Governor to EPA: Wyo can’t regulate greenhouse gas

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The governor of the state with the most greenhouse gas emissions per person is telling the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that state law forbids regulation of greenhouse gases.

The EPA has told 13 states to toughen up their rules to regulate greenhouse gases by Jan. 2. For states that miss the deadline, the EPA says it is proposing to step in and regulate those emissions instead. The EPA has opened the proposal for comment.

Wyoming isn’t among the 13 states. Even so, Gov. Dave Freudenthal wrote the EPA Thursday saying Wyoming law prevents the state from regulating greenhouse gases.

The Legislature passed a law in 1999 saying Wyoming won’t enact any rules reducing emissions under the Kyoto Protocol, the 1997 treaty calling on industrial nations to cut greenhouse emissions.

The Democratic governor didn’t cite the statute but that’s the law he meant, his spokeswoman, Leigh Anne Manlove, said Friday.

The soonest Wyoming would be able to consider changing its law, Freudenthal wrote, would be after the Legislature’s next session convenes. That’s scheduled for Jan. 11.

Meanwhile, several states have submitted legal petitions questioning EPA regulation of greenhouse gases, the governor said in his letter.

“There is a high likelihood that any permitting strategy imposed on the states at this junction is premature,” he wrote.

Also, the best ways to control greenhouse gases under federal regulations aren’t yet evident “and will likely not be clear anytime soon,” Freudenthal wrote.

Various recent studies have put Wyoming above any other state in per-capita greenhouse gas emissions. Wyoming is the least populated state yet exports a fair amount of electricity from power plants fired by the state’s vast coal reserves.

Wyoming shouldn’t be fighting greenhouse gas regulation but promoting technology to make coal cleaner, said Shannon Anderson with the Sheridan-based Powder River Basin Resource Council, a landowner advocacy group.

“Wyoming can’t just shut out the federal government. We need to really do the right thing for our coal industry in the state,” Anderson said.

Anderson was skeptical the Legislature would act in response to the EPA.

“What I see the Legislature doing is legislation clarifying that the EPA shouldn’t be doing this and that we shouldn’t implement the EPA rule,” she said. “But we’ll see.”

Freudenthal wrote that he plans to submit additional remarks on the proposed rule by the Oct. 4 deadline to comment.