CEO of the Wyoming Business Council Josh Dorrell joined SVI to discuss some plans on how to spend federal funds provided to states from the American Rescue Plan Spending (ARPA).

President Joe Biden signed the bill into law in March of 2021. Governor Mark Gordon has said that if the future generation is going to pay for it he would like to see the money be used for them. Dorrell says there are two different categories of issues they have identified.

“There’s technical problems,” Dorrell said. “Those are simple problems that we know the answer to and then there are more complex problems which are really structural.”

One aspect of the technical problems is the projects that are being worked on right now that the state has devoted funds to complete. The issue is the cost of those rose dramatically in 2020 and 2021 and so the projects are at risk of not getting finished.

“So, one of the technical solutions is let’s take some of that ARPA money and devote it to finishing those projects,” Dorrell said. “So, we can get the economic benefit.

“Simple problem. We know we don’t have enough money. Put some money and resources toward it, it finishes off those projects.”

He says there are many complex problems though too. For now, they are setting aside a little bit of that money for research. This means testing some things out and try new things. He says this way solutions can be found and more investments can be made later.

“To try and find what the economics say that Wyoming can and should do,” Dorrell said. “It’s not necessarily just what we want to do.”

He says this means gaining an understanding of the “economic landscape” of the country and world to see how the Cowboy state can fit into that. He says with that in mind the Business Council is working with a group in Harvard called the Growth Lab. This is to help make sure Wyoming is making the best policies, funding mechanisms, etc.

“So, that we can address economic challenges,” Dorrell said. “We can invite companies to be here or help companies expand into the right areas.”

He also says this does include the future of energy here. He knows this means investing in the energy of the future.

“It’s not to abandon what’s made us great because we want to keep those going as long as possible,” Dorrell said. “So, we put some things in the proposal to look at energy of the future.”

He says he thinks that Wyoming can still be the leaders in that industry and will likely be a mix of sources. He also believes Lincoln County will have a great opportunity with the nuclear power plant. He says what needs to be considered is how it can best be leveraged.

“How do we have it be a part of the industry for the long haul?” Dorrell said. “And for the nuclear power plants from all over the country?”

He also says that it is important to consider these things because there will be federal money in infrastructure bills in the future. However, he says that money is competitive. So, this could hopefully set up the state to receive more of those funds.

The best way to track all the proposals with ARPA money is to visit the Wyoming Business Council’s website here. Dorrell also says it is important to track the discussion between the legislature and the governor and how they are working together to utilize the funds.