The growth in Lincoln County is ramping up to another level with large industrial projects underway and in the planning stages. From the TerraPower nuclear unit which held a groundbreaking on Monday of this week, to trona mining and the solar farm near Cokeville, there are nearly a dozen huge industries expanding into the county. Lincoln County Commissioner, Kent Connelly, spoke with SVI Media as part of the Weekday Wake-Up radio show about payments that come along with these types of projects. One of which that involved carbon capturing and trona mining near the southern border of the county has recently brought in some big dollars for the commissioners office.
“It came in at $2.6 billion,” Connelly said of the effort. “The Industrial Siting law states that it qualifies for funding so they put about $25 million in a pot that is shared by Sweetwater, Lincoln and Uinta counties. It’s a very complicated process. They awarded $7.1 million to us.”
The communities of Opal, LaBarge, Cokeville, Diamondville and Kemmerer each received varying amounts of that total. The county took in a share as well as the Kemmerer/Diamondville Joint Powers Board, the South Lincoln Hospital District and the Kemmerer Senior Citizens District.
The Industrial Siting Council reviews socio-economic and environmental impacts of industrial facilities before issuing a permit for construction. Emphasis is placed upon social-economic impacts, according to the Department of Environmental Quality website.
Connelly also stated that the funds don’t come in all at once but rather in payments and that the money doesn’t come in until the project is built.
“For instance, the solar farm outside of Cokeville hasn’t been built. So that money could take three to four years to come through. It’s not easy to get but it will have long-term effects to help Lincoln County,” he said.
The money is generally used toward infrastructure and emergency response.
“They also gear it toward local law enforcement,” Connelly added. “You have to plead your case for what you need. You are scrutinized by the Industrial Siting Council. We feel like we did very well on this one.”
The process is constant as long as these large project navigate private land owners and other discussions.
“We [as a county] stay out of it as it is figured out,” Connelly said. “Things like this don’t happen overnight. For example the Natrium plant near Kemmerer took about two years. There won’t be an Industrial Siting payout for five or six years. But the trona industry is going berserk in Sweetwater County and we are feeling some of that. But it will take ten years for those things to develop.”
