Governor Mark Gordon recently held a press conference in which he discussed various bills and projects that are in the works in the state.
One big topic of conversation was the budget. It is expected that the budget will go down compared to previous years. However, the governor says he is doing as much homework as possible. He has gone to every department and asked them to create a “state of the agency narrative.”
“I’ve been sitting on much of those meetings over the last several weeks,” Gordon said. “When the budget comes out I think you’ll be happy to see kind of what the agencies are up to, how they look at their challenges, and what they look at their successes.”
He says this will help them frame how they propose the budget. The Consensus Revenue Estimating Group is also expected to be released October 29 which Gordon says they will use before sending their recommendation.
He says his administration is focused on budget reduction before looking at any avenues at raising taxes. He believes this is what the people of Wyoming will expect from him. He says he understands the stories covered on the budget may suggest a real reduction.
“We know there are going to be gaps in school funding,” Gordon said. “We also know there are going to gaps in things like road construction and those sorts of things.
“It is unclear to me at this point what kind of deficit we are going to be facing over the course of the next couple of years.”
Gordon believes in this budget cycle there will have to be some reductions. He says he is working closely with agencies and leadership to see how much of a change the state will see.
The governor will have his budget ready to present on November 18.
The future of coal, energy
Gordon discussed how energy is a big factor in government revenue, but he is hopeful to see positives come from coal and other avenues of energy.
“It’s my view that we are entering perhaps a different period in our state’s history,” Gordon said. “As that fully matures, we get a better sense of how long-standing these pushes for renewable energy are.”
He says for now he still believes there is a future for fossil fuels despite the compressed market in Wyoming and the U.S. He says you may look around and see choices being made to further phase out fossil fuel, but he’s not ruling anything out just yet.
“During the bomb cyclone (in northeast of the U.S.) most of the electric demand was met by coal,” Gordon said. “During the recent hurricane in the southeast about 65-70% of that electric demand was met by coal.”
He said you can’t depend on wind in those situations because they shut down after a certain high wind speed. Solar can only power so much in those situations as well according to Gordon.
His focus, for now, is to work with Oregon and Pacificorp to help buffer the areas that will be greatly affected by the change to renewable energy. Places like Kemmerer where Rocky Mountain Power recently announced the eventual retirement of Naughton Units 1 and 2 in 2025 and also the eventual retirement of Unit 3 by 2029.
“Those are not long, complicated conversations,” Gordon said of those meetings. “It’s just a ‘hey can we start to have these conversations?'”
According to Gordon the issue should not be fossil fuel or renewable. He says the problem is carbon in the atmosphere.
“That’s the issue we should be addressing,” Gordon said. “That’s where Wyoming can take a leadership position in climate change.”
He also says that a new group has been created called Power Wyoming. They will be responsible for looking at what the opportunities are and revenue generation as well. The main focus is how this all affects the people of the state and Power Wyoming should have a report to send to the Joint Revenue Committee next month.
