Wyoming News Briefs

Wapiti hunter to pay $15K for mistakenly killing grizzly

POWELL (WNE) — A local black bear hunter who mistakenly killed a grizzly last spring must pay $15,000 in restitution and is barred from hunting over the next year. 

At a Wednesday hearing in Park County Circuit Court, Patrick M. Gogerty of Wapiti pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of illegally taking a grizzly without a license. However, under a deal accepted by the court, Gogerty’s guilty plea was deferred and the case will be dismissed if he successfully completes a year of unsupervised probation. 

Gogerty shot the bruin early on May 1 along the North Fork corridor in the Shoshone National Forest; he testified he didn’t realize it was a grizzly until approaching the carcass, and he then left the area. 

Gogerty killed the bear within view of the North Fork Highway (U.S. Highway 14/16/20W), and passersby soon spotted and reported the carcass. Game Warden Travis Crane of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department was dispatched to the area around 9 a.m. He began investigating the killing in conjunction with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which oversees the region’s grizzly bears due to their status as a threatened species. 

Meanwhile, bystanders’ photos of the dead, 530-pound bear were posted to social media. The posts drew widespread attention and eventual coverage from national outlets like USA Today, HuffPost and The New York Times. 

Gogerty said he tried getting in touch with Game and Fish on the evening of May 1, but “they weren’t open,” he testified, “and I didn’t call.” The retiree did call Game and Fish early the next morning — around 5:30 a.m. on May 2 — and reported his mistake; the Park County Attorney’s Office filed the criminal case on May 11.

At $15,000, the stipulated restitution came in higher than the $10,000 recently assessed on other local black bear hunters who immediately reported they had mistakenly killed a grizzly. 

Personal Frontiers gets $45K to treat gambling addiction

GILLETTE (WNE) — Right now, Campbell County residents who are struggling with gambling addiction have very few, if any, places they can turn to for help.

Personal Frontiers, a nonprofit substance abuse treatment provider, plans to change that. 

This week, the organization received $45,000 from the county, which was passed down from the state, to start a program to treat gambling addiction.

In 2023, Campbell County received $45,553 in sports betting revenue from the state earmarked for the prevention and treatment of problematic gambling behavior.

Under state statute, every month, sports betting operators will send 10% of their revenue to the Wyoming Gaming Commission. Each fiscal year, the first $300,000 of this money will be appropriated to the Wyoming Department of Health. 2023 was the first year the funds were available.

In December, Campbell County asked local agencies to explain how they’d spend the money, and Personal Frontiers was the only one to apply.

Kay Guire, executive director of Personal Frontiers, said she’s seen an increase in gambling addiction in the past few years, just with how accessible it is and how many gambling options are available.

Off-track betting, the Wyoming Lottery and sports betting are a few of the ways people can legally gamble in Campbell County.

Locally, there are no options for people who are struggling with gambling addiction. Guire said there isn’t a Gamblers Anonymous chapter in the whole state of Wyoming, and the closest one to Gillette is in a small town three hours away.

Personal Frontier’s gambling addiction program will include weekly group meetings, individual counseling and mental health sessions, Guire said, adding that she also is applying for a $45,000 grant through the National Council on Problem Gambling for this program.

Guire said employees will have to go through some training, and that the program should be ready to train in the beginning of April.

Gordon’s podcast features 2024 legislative session preview

CHEYENNE (WNE) — In the newest episode of his podcast “The Morning Gather,” Gov. Mark Gordon is joined by Wyoming Senate President Ogden Driskill and Speaker of the House Albert Sommers for a preview of the upcoming 2024 legislative session.

The podcast series is part of the governor’s goal to have more open communication with the citizens of Wyoming.

In this episode, the governor and legislative leadership share their perspective on Wyoming’s state budget, where dollars are allocated and how those allocations impact communities. They also discuss legislation addressing property tax reform, K-12 education and the effect federal policies have on Wyoming’s economy.

The podcast episode may be streamed on Spotify, as well as from a link on the Podcasts page of the governor’s website.

Strong finish to the year pushes Peabody to profitable 2023

GILLETTE (WNE) — The three Campbell County mines belonging to Peabody Energy Corp. combined to help the global coal company end 2023 with its highest quarter of production in the Powder River Basin since 2020.

Coming in at 87.2 million tons for the year, the late uptick in mining gave Peabody an increase from the 82.6 million tons sold in 2022, and a higher profit margin to show for it, according to Peabody’s quarterly earnings report.

The company shipped 23.6 million tons of coal from its three Powder River Basin mines — North Antelope Rochelle Mine, Caballo and Rawhide — from October through December. Its haul equated to about 1 million tons more than the prior quarter, and about 2.4 million tons more than the same stretch of time to close out 2022.

Higher repair and maintenance costs, in part, caused the cost of mining to rise $0.57 per ton to almost $12 per ton, compared against an average selling point of $13.58.

The result was a solid yet less profitable quarter in the PRB than the previous three-month span, yielding about $37.6 million for the company compared to the $54.1 million margin made on 22.7 million tons shipped from July through September.

On the whole, the company earned more from its Campbell County mines in 2023 than in 2022, ending the year up about $153.7 million compared to $68.2 million the year before.

Demand for thermal coal in the U.S. had decreased due to lower natural gas prices and the impact of renewable energy sources, Peabody CEO Jim Grech said in an earnings call with investors Thursday.

Gordon slams ‘top-down’ approach to forest management

CHEYENNE (WNE) — Gov. Mark Gordon is telling the U.S. Department of Agriculture that the Biden administration’s management plan for old-growth forests is a “misguided, top-down proposal that should go no further.”

In a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Gordon asked the Forest Service to halt this policymaking and said that protection efforts should be evaluated at a forest level and involve local cooperating agencies. He wrote that the Forest Service should reconsider moving forward with the proposal, which, as written, is a top-down approach that fails to meet public participation requirements, including a transparent, collaborative process.

“This proposal seems to indicate the Forest Service has abandoned its policy and the commitments made in the 2012 Planning Rule when it comes to public input, transparency, local knowledge, and the importance of decisions being made by those that are closest to the forest,” the governor wrote. “This is made clear by the proposal’s exclusion of counties as cooperating agencies and the decision to amend 128 management plans at the same time with the responsible official being as far away from the forests as you can get.”

The proposal is a poor use of time and resources, the governor wrote. He noted that the Forest Service in Wyoming and nationwide already struggles to revise, implement and monitor existing forest plans.

“The Forest Service, the public and old growth would be better served if the limited staff time and resources were used to address the real threats of wildfire, disease and insect infestation through active management, plan revisions, implementation and consistent accurate monitoring,” Gordon added.

Wyoming Insight: Oil prices up, mining sector still improving

CHEYENNE (WNE) — Oil and natural gas prices have increased, according to the January 2024 issue of the Wyoming Insight, which serves as an energy index and business indicators report for the state. 

“The West Texas Intermediate monthly average price for crude oil was $74.15 per bbl. in January,” said Dylan Bainer, principal economist for the state’s Economic Analysis Division. Average active oil rigs were 11 in January, and the conventional gas rig count was one. A year ago, there were 18 oil rigs and three conventional gas rigs.

“Natural gas spot prices at the national benchmark (Henry Hub) increased in January,” Bainer said. “Spot prices at the Opal Hub, which mostly reflect markets in the West (particularly California), also increased compared to last month.”

The January 2024 natural gas price at the Opal Hub averaged $4.74 per million British thermal units (MMBtu), $1.60 more than last month. The Henry Hub natural gas price averaged $3.22/MMBtu in January, $0.70 more than last month.

Mining sector sales and use tax revenues also continued to improve, according to Bainer.

“January sales and use tax collections from the mining sector were up $2.2 million (+23.1%) year-over-year,” he said. 

This is the 29th consecutive month mining sector collections have increased year-over-year. Total collections summed to $88 million, $2.6 million (+3.1%) more than January last year.

Oil and gas employment, however, is still considerably low compared to pre-pandemic levels. 

“Oil and gas employment in the state numbered 8800 jobs in December 2023, 500 less than December last year,” said Bainer. Before the COVID-19 pandemic started to have a large impact on the economy in April 2020, oil and gas employment in the state numbered nearly 12,000 jobs.