Pronghorn pledges public meetings

Residents want answers about the Pronghorn H2 hydrogen extraction project’s use of water, economic viability, safety & more. Focus Clean Energy’s Martin says he respects their concerns and will hold community engagement meetings in the future.

A grassroots contingent of Converse County citizens has banded together in recent months in their continued fight against the massive $1.7 billion Pronghorn H2, LLC hydrogen extraction operation to be located on the east and south sides of Glenrock.

Rancher and former Converse County Commission candidate Joe Benedetta of Glenrock is at the forefront of “Taxpayers Against Pronghorn H2 Project,” which their website describes as “a coalition of concerned taxpayers, residential and ranch landowners, and neighboring community members affected by the proposed Pronghorn H2 project.”

Rancher Mike Stephens, of  Stephens Land and Livestock and whose land borders part of the project’s leased land, filed a lawsuit weeks ago in state district court against the Wyoming Board of Land Commissioners. He alleges the WBLC was “not following their own laws” in approving the wind farms associated with the project.

The Wyoming State Lands & Investment Board (SLIB) approved Pronghorn Clean Energy / Pronghorn H2, LLC’s wind farm land lease application, Wind Energy Lease 1620. SLIB voted 4-1 to approve the permit April 3. Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray cast the no vote and has been vocal in his opposition since the vote.

Gov. Mark Gordon, Treasurer Curt Meier, Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder and State Auditor Kristi Racines voted to allow the project to move forward to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality and Industrial Siting Council for reviews and permits.

However, this approval by SLIB is only for the windfarm land lease portion of the project, not the full build-out. The $1.7 to more than $2 billion behemoth endeavor in Converse County was contested by multiple Converse and Niobrara counties’ residents during the public comment portion of the April 3 meeting in Cheyenne. 

The project is planned on 46,000 acres of mixed state and private lands throughout western and southern Converse County. At the same time, Pronghorn H2 is working on a potential project in Niobrara County – the multi-billion dollar Sidewinder project, to be 10 miles west of Lusk.

Sidewinder and Pronghorn are backed by the same entities – Acciona and Nordex Green Hydrogen – businesses who are in partnership with developer Paul Martin’s Focus Clean Energy on the projects.

Stephen’s lawsuit is intended to stop the wind farm permit, though officially it just asks the court to review the state’s administrative decision.

And Stephens, who owns 1,000-plus acres of land near where the windfarm would go, said his family’s ranching operation is multi-generational. He’s worked hard on this land – as did his familial predecessors. He’s gone on first hunts with his children and grandchildren on it. His land is his family’s legacy, he’s said.

COMMUNICATION

Benedetta, Stephens and other landowners have voiced their concerns for months now about the project becoming their neighbor – should it be approved – and what affect it may have on their land, lives and livestock. They have enlisted the help of some politicians, including Gray and House District 6 Rep. Tomi Strock, a Douglas area rancher (who penned a letter to the editor in this week’s edition).

The Pronghorn H2 project isn’t just a renewable energy proposal — it’s a high-risk industrial operation with permanent consequences for land, water, wildlife, and way of life, they contend. According to their website, they believe the risks far outweigh the rewards.

Benedetta said he wants to make it clear that they are against the Pronghorn H2 project as it stands.

“(The website) is against the project and how it affects the community. I think that’s an important distinction to make. It’s not against any person,” he stated.

One of the biggest problems, Benedetta and others contend, is the lack of communication between the project’s stakeholders and residents.

“This isn’t just a windfarm, or just a solar project, it is all tied up as one hydrogen extraction project. There has been no communication with the residents here,” Benedetta said.

Focus Clean Energy’s Martin said they are aware of the opposition.

“We do respect the concerns of residents. We hear them when they’re saying they want answers about the project. We are increasing our outreach in the county and we hope we can find common ground,” he said.

“Wind power and other energy projects operate across Wyoming and the U.S. without harming their neighbors. We believe the Pronghorn project can do the same. The majority of the project is located on private land, and all the state land leases included in the project received written consent from state leaseholders. Leasing land is one of the first steps in the development process, and there’s still a long way to go before the project can be built,” Martin wrote in an email. 

Benedetta said that he knows Pronghorn will have to meet with the community at some point, because permitting regulations require them to do so – especially with a project of this magnitude and intensity – not to mention how close it is located to the community.

“They should be doing more than the minimum,” he charged. “(Pronghorn) is not going to calm the fears of this community by not saying anything. They need to have a civil conversation with the people that are concerned about this project.”

The project’s next major step will be submitting an application to the state’s Industrial Siting Council. ISC reviews the socioeconomic and environmental impacts of industrial facilities before issuing a permit for construction. It falls is under the auspices of the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality.

“This is a rigorous process that includes protections for wildlife, cultural resources, safety and more, including bonding requirements for decommissioning,” Martin explained.

The hydrogen plant is considered “green energy,” which under the previous federal administration, companies building projects under the green energy label could be granted large tax incentives. Under President Trump’s administration, some or nearly all of those incentives are likely to disappear, something Strock warned about in her letter.

It is important to note that “projects like this one are legally required to provide financial security for full and complete decommissioning (removal of the project) if it ceases operations,” Martin pointed out.

“Decommissioning requirements are also part of our agreements with landowners. Once operational, the project would be working to fulfill long-term contracts with private businesses for our output, so it will be in our interest to keep it running. But even if we didn’t, the decommissioning requirements act like an insurance policy – they guarantee money will be available to remove the project, no matter what.”

Martin said they are increasing community outreach to respond to the public and the opposition.

“Wyoming has a strict process for siting projects that includes public input and provides protections for water, cultural resources, health and safety, wildlife and more. There is a lot of work for us to do, but we believe we can move this project forward in a way that follows all legal requirements, respects private property rights and creates benefits for Converse County.”

Where will the water come from?

Another major concern to residents and the Town of Glenrock is water. If the facility ends up being approved, landowners said they would have to share water with the massive project (it takes about 2.37 gallons of water to make 1 kg of hydrogen) – and they are concerned about there actually being enough water for their agricultural operations, daily use and the hydrogen refinery. 

Glenrock Mayor Bruce Roumell said he is concerned whether the community will have enough water as well.

“My transmission line from there to town . . . How much is that gonna cross our right-of-way for our pipeline right of way? What if it actually gets damaged, that line gets broke between there and town? Then I got no water in town,” Roumell said in May.

Martin said the current plan for their project is to use water from the North Platte River by transferring water rights from other industrial users. 

“This would result in no net increase in water consumption above adjudicated levels. We are currently working to obtain these water rights. The project will be required to gain approval from the Wyoming State Engineers Office Board of Control for any transfer and use of water rights to the project. Before the project can proceed, WSEO will have to determine that the project’s water use will not be detrimental to current users,” he said.

Martin has, in previous statements before the Converse County commissioners, said that the Pronghorn H2 project will use less water than what the Dave Johnston Power Plant does.

That statement has been questioned in public settings by Benedetta and Stephens, as well as Converse County Commissioner Robert Short.

Martin counters that Dave Johnston consumes as much as 10 times the amount of water as what they are planning to use for Pronghorn, according to water data he has obtained from WSEO.  

“We will (also) need to demonstrate that our water use will not be detrimental to current users,” he stated.

However, some continue to be skeptical.

Benedetta said the facts found on his website are researched and he stands by everything published there.

“What is on the website is what we’re concerned about. We’ve researched it. We’ve documented it. Granted, none of it can be specific to Pronghorn because we don’t really know what Pronghorn’s gonna do. There’s mountains of literature about the effects of wind turbines in communities. They’re gonna have solar panels. There’s piles of information on solar panels and their impact on communities. Now we’ve got a hydrogen plant, so we can’t even look at our own history and say, ‘Oh well, we know this or we know that (will happen),’ because we don’t have a hydrogen plant in Converse County. That’s new territory.

 “What’s it take? How much electricity do you need? How much water do you need?   They likely will have to pull even more water, because then they have to treat the water to get to their 300 acre feet, and we don’t know what that number is. I’m gonna venture to guess they don’t know what that number is yet, either,” Benedetta said. 

“It’s too soon? It’s not too soon – it’s too late. Our opposition is ahead of this on purpose. We’re not gonna wait around  . . . We want them to know that we have concerns based on available research and that we’re just not gonna take their word for it . . . when it’s time to complain it’s too late.”

2k+ SIGNATURES

Many of those contesting the project have been participating in area fairs and festivities, collecting signatures for a petition against the Pronghorn H2 project.

Benedetta said the face-to-face signature gathering is going well. There’s an online petition that people can sign as well.

“Deer Creek Days was a home run. We got a bunch of signatures there. We got  signatures down at Jackalope Square (in Douglas). We’ve got some petitions at some of the stores here in town. We got them in some of the stores in Douglas. Outreach is increasing almost daily. Shop owners are calling us and asking if they can get a petition in their store. We’ve got over 2,000 signatures so far,” he said.

Ultimately the petition is going to be delivered to the Converse County Planning & Zoning Board and will become part of the application process, according to Benedett, who sits on the P&Z board after being reappointed in January.

“We will go through and vet every petition so there’s no duplicates (of signatures). When we’ve done that (we won’t do that for some time yet), we will present that petition with the verified signature pages to the county, and that will be part of the record of the application process . . . We’re just trying to be ahead of this. There’s too much at stake here. By the time you ‘wait and see,’ you have no time to react. It’s too late. If we can get these concerns in front of people who are going to be making these decisions, which is DEQ, the state engineer, the county commissioners . . . and, we’re still sending stuff to the big five (top five elected officials). . . they’ve made a big mistake putting public land up like this,” he stated.

WHAT NOW?

Martin confirmed they have plans to increase community engagement regarding the Pronghorn H2 projects, but when that will be has yet to be announced.

“Converse County has a strong economic and energy ecosystem and we want to be part of it. Converse County has had operating wind projects for years, and these projects operate alongside ranching, oil and gas, and recreation, while creating new opportunities,” he said. “The Pronghorn project will use billions of dollars of private investment to responsibly develop Wyoming energy resources and create Wyoming jobs, and we think that’s something many people in the county support.”

While more communication is what many residents want, Benedetta said Glenrock is an educated community.

“They understand the risk of this project and granted, they’ll be a reward, but what will the reward really be? Is it more tax money for the county? Is it more tax money for the state? Is it lease payments to the private owners and the state? That’s all positive – we’re not against progress. But what about the negatives? What about the people that have to look at these things? You know, when they’re 12 or 20 miles away, people can live with it. What about when you look out your window and have to look up to see this wind turbine, or you got a solar panel shining light in your back window? It’s different. It’s a different situation than we faced here before now. I hope they do come talk to us. That would be great,” Benedetta said.

For more information about the oppposition, visit Taxpayers Against Pronghorn H2 Project via https://againstpronghornh2project.com

To learn more about the project, visit https://www.pronghornh2.com