Wyoming News Briefs

Black Hills Energy to use Wyodak coal to research hydrogen generation

GILLETTE (WNE) — Black Hills Energy will be using Powder River Basin coal to research hydrogen generation.

Black Hills Energy was recently awarded a grant from the Wyoming Energy Authority to conduct a feasibility analysis on hydrogen generation using coal from Wyodak Mine.

The ongoing research project partners engineers from Black Hills Energy with clean power production experts from Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, or B&W, as well as members of the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department at Ohio State University.

“Our mission at WEA is to embrace an all of the above energy strategy towards reducing emissions,” said WEA Program Director Anja Richmond in a press release.

“In doing so, we encourage innovation that supports the continued relevancy of every power generation source, including coal. The collaboration and advancement of exploring critical new ways to use Wyoming coal present great potential for our state.”

The Brightloop technology developed by B&W is an oxidation reduction chemical process that produces hydrogen and a nearly pure product stream of carbon dioxide without the need for expensive carbon capture equipment to extract the carbon emissions.

“Over 30 years of research has led us to this opportunity to unite clean energy technology with Wyoming’s important and abundant energy resources,” said Mark Stege, Black Hills Energy’s vice president of Wyoming operations, in the press release. “We are honored by this grant and the prospect of leveraging innovative hydrogen technology to deliver efficient energy to customers.”

A conceptual design and estimate for a semi-commercial scale plant will be developed as part of the analysis.

If determined to be feasible and cost-effective, a second phase would include the construction of a pilot scale facility using the technology at Black Hills Energy’s Neil Simpson Complex in Wyoming.

Cody man pleads guilty to child porn

CODY (WNE) — The 22-year-old Cody man arrested last year on four counts of delivering or receiving child pornography pleaded guilty during a change of plea hearing May 4.

Under a plea agreement, Kenneth Levi Crawford pleaded guilty to one count of possessing child pornography, after the three remaining counts of delivering child pornography were dismissed.

Crawford was sentenced to serve between two and four years in a state prison, with credit for roughly seven months of time already served in the Park County Detention Center.

Park County District Court Judge Bill Simpson further ordered that Crawford would serve one year in the Park County Detention Center, at which time the two to four year prison sentence would be suspended and Crawford would be put on three years of supervised probation.

Crawford will not be eligible to apply for a sentence reduction or modification.

According to his statement to the court, Crawford pleaded guilty to the sexual exploitation of a child by possessing child pornography.

He committed the offense between July 1 and August 30 of last year, after he took a video of a 17-year-old in an “explicit sexual position or conduct,” Crawford’s counsel Timothy Blatt said.

After taking the video, Crawford said he stored it on his phone.

According to the affidavit, the victim in this case reported several instances of non-consensual sexual encounters with Crawford, which he filmed and stored on his phone.

“This is a sad case,” Simpson told Crawford. “People are not just objects to entertain or amuse you. They are human beings.”

He added that Crawford’s behavior was “inexcusable.” 

Hunter to pay $10K after mistaking grizzly for black bear

POWELL (WNE) — Although a judge praised a Cody hunter for his “very responsible” decision to self-report the violation, the man must pay $10,000 for his role in the mistaken killing of a grizzly bear last spring. 

During a May 2022 hunt with his son in the North Fork area, Joel Proffit mistook the grizzly for a black bear and directed the teen to shoot the animal, charging documents say. 

After the boy killed the bear and Proffit got a better look, he became concerned it might be a grizzly and contacted the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. 

In late March, Proffit pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of being an accessory before or after the fact to taking a grizzly bear without a proper license.

Grizzlies in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem remain on the endangered species list and cannot be hunted. 

Under a deal struck with Park County prosecutors, Proffit’s plea was deferred. 

As long as he obeys the law for the following year and pays $10,000 in restitution for the dead bear and $120 in court fees and assessments, the case will be dismissed without a finding of guilt. He has a year to pay off the sum. 

“I’m convinced, I know from reading the reports [that] you did the right thing immediately, as you should have done. And that speaks very well of you,” Circuit Court Judge Ed Luhm, of Worland, told Proffit at a March 30 sentencing. “So I’m looking forward to you being successful here in your probation, so this will be dismissed.”

Man who assaulted daughter’s boyfriend gets jail and probation on reduced charge

GILLETTE (WNE) — A man who was originally charged with attempted second-degree murder for swinging a knife multiple times at his daughter’s boyfriend last summer has been sentenced to jail and probation on a reduced charge.

The charge was reduced to aggravated assault and battery per a plea deal with prosecutors that recommended up to ten years in prison for his guilty plea.

At Umar Farooq’s sentencing hearing April 25, District Judge Stuart S. Healy III gave him a suspended six- to eight-year sentence and a 365-day split-sentence to serve in jail, according to court documents.

Upon release, Farooq, 48, will enter three years of supervised probation.

He was also fined $10,000, half of which was suspended.

Farooq’s wife told police at the time of the incident that he was angry that his daughter had planned to move in with her boyfriend, a registered sex offender, according to the affidavit of probable cause filed in the case.

The 24-year-old boyfriend, Ian Brokenleg, was convicted of second-degree sexual abuse of a minor and sentenced in January 2021. He was accused of having sex with a girl between the ages of 13 and 15 when he was 17 years or older, according to court documents.

Police became involved in the incident at about 4:45 p.m. Aug. 26 when Brokenleg arrived at the police department with blood on his hands and clothes, claiming that his girlfriend’s father tried stabbing him.

He had a two-inch cut on the palm of his left hand that was fresh and actively bleeding, according to court documents.

Prior to allegedly stabbing his daughter’s boyfriend, Farooq had gone to Brokenleg’s workplace and caused a scene, screaming at him and leading to law enforcement arriving to give Farooq a trespass notice, according to court documents.

Wyoming sees strong job growth in mining in 4Q 2022

CHEYENNE (WNE) — From fourth quarter 2021 to fourth quarter 2022, Wyoming added 5292 jobs (2.0%) and total payroll rose by $58.8 million (1.5%), according to a news release from the Department of Workforce Services.

Despite the recent job growth, employment has not fully returned to pre-pandemic levels. Total employment in fourth quarter 2022 was down approximately 3600 jobs from fourth quarter 2019.

In the fourth quarter 2022, the largest job gains occurred in mining (including oil and gas; 1454 jobs, or 9.4%). Substantial growth was also seen in leisure and hospitality (798 jobs, or 2.3%), local government (including public schools, colleges and hospitals; 733 jobs, or 1.6%), professional and business services (728 jobs, or 3.6%), and manufacturing (509 jobs, or 5.1%). 

Employment fell in construction (-153 jobs, or -0.7%) and state government (-113 jobs, or -0.9%). Employment rose in 17 counties, fell in five counties and remained unchanged in Washakie County.

Laramie County lost 695 jobs (-1.5%) and its total payroll fell by $11.7 million (-1.7%). Construction employment decreased by approximately 900 jobs, and smaller job losses were seen in transportation and warehousing; local government; real estate, rental and leasing; and retail trade. 

Job losses were partially offset by growth in mining (including oil and gas), leisure and hospitality, manufacturing, and health care and social assistance.

Gillette garbage trucks named by students to hit streets soon

GILLETTE (WNE) — Later this month, Trashzilla and Mt. Trashmore will be on the streets of Gillette.

The city recently asked local elementary schools to come up with names for its garbage trucks, and all of the elementary schools in the school district except for Rozet submitted names, said Skylar Riehemann, solid waste manager for the city.

The city has eight full-size garbage trucks and one pickup, so nine names in total were selected. Each driver is assigned to a truck, and the drivers got to go through the submissions and pick their favorites.

“It was cool to see how excited they got about the names,” Riehemann said.

The past couple of weeks, design work has been done on the logos and decals that will be placed on the garbage trucks.

This comes several months after the city worked with the school district to name its snow plows. Riehemann said the garbage trucks have a larger flat surface than the snow plows, so there’s more room to work with and be creative.

“TyAnn [Woodall] is doing all of the design, we gave her free rein on that,” he said. “The stuff I’ve seen so far has been awesome.”

Once the decals are placed on the trucks, the drivers will take their trucks to the school that came up with the name. The goal is to do this annually or once every two years, Riehemann said.

Here’s the list of truck names that were selected:

‘Mega Muncher’ – John Paul II Catholic School

‘Sir Dumps A Lot’ – Wagonwheel

‘Nector the Collector’ – Sunflower

‘Bag Boys’ – Hillcrest

‘Trashzilla’ – Lakeview

‘Hop, Skip & Dump’ – Buffalo Ridge

‘Mt. Trashmore’ – Paintbrush

‘Ernest, King of Garbage’ – Pronghorn

‘Oscar’ – Conestoga

WyoLink emergency communication system to be upgraded over summer

SHERIDAN (WNE) — The end of the long winter has opened up the opportunity for the Wyoming Department of Transportation to upgrade WyoLink, a statewide emergency communication radio system primarily used by law enforcement. 

According to Neil Gardiner, WyoLink Support Manager at WYDOT, the long winter set back plans to upgrade the software behind the WyoLink system. Now that the weather is clearing up, WYDOT has scheduled six upgrades to occur this month and 10 upgrades to complete in June.

Gardiner said the upgrades will make the WyoLink system more current and enable easier updates in the future. 

By upgrading the systems to a GTR radio system, the service will see smoother operation and further protection from potential failures. A stronger, more reliable connection opens WyoLink up to be used by more than just law enforcement, Gardiner said — the system could potentially be used in national parks, across school districts and more.

The WyoLink team has gained three new staff members since March, alleviating prior staffing concerns, Gardiner said, and setting up the WyoLink team for a productive summer.

“We’ve got the staffing now and we’ve got training coming up. I think we’re going to be very successful,” he said.

Nathan Smolinski, program manager at WYDOT, said future upgrades to the WyoLink system could strengthen the connection enough to reach surrounding states, expanding the capabilities for use of the system. The WyoLink team has already been in talks with Verizon to move the system from a 3G connection to an LTE connection.

Smolinski said the team made contacts with Montana, Utah and Colorado at a recent Regional Emergency Communications meeting to set up testing of the reach of the system and ponder how it might be best used in the future.