State land commissioners vote 3-2 to begin process to cancel Pronghorn, Sidewinder wind project land leases

Wyoming Auditor Kristi Racines, Secretary Chuck Gray and Superintendent of Schools Megan Degenfelder on Thursday, Feb. 5 voted to begin the process of cancelling state land leases 1620 and 1625 with the Pronghorn Project wind farm in Converse County and the Sidewinder wind farm in Niobrara County.

Additionally, Wyoming Attorney General Keith Kautz was asked to withdraw the appeal he’d made earlier to the Wyoming Supreme Court to throw out 8th Judicial District Converse County Judge F. Scott Peasley’s decision nixing the Pronghorn wind lease, due to what Peasley called the SBLC not “following their own rules.”

Gray made the motion to cancel the lease projects, however, State Treasurer Curt Meier and Gov. Mark Gordon were the two dissenting votes during the monthly meeting of the State Board of Land Commissioners in Cheyenne.

Gray was the lone member of the board to vote against initial approval of the wind lease in April, although Racines and Degenfelder have since apologized for their previous votes in favor of the projects, admitting to making a mistake when voting for the Pronghorn H2 Clean Energy wind leases in April.

Time to speak prior to the vote was given for public comment, which included not only residents from Converse and Niobrara counties (and elsewhere in the Cowboy State), but Pronghorn attorney Jeff Pope, who, while stating before the board that what he was going to say was not a threat, he would be filing a lawsuit against the State of Wyoming on behalf of Pronghorn should the board vote to cancel the lease or leases.

“. . . If the board were to vote to rescind (Pronghorn H2 LLC and Sidewinder H2 LLC state leases), Pronghorn has asked me to explain what we would do to protect those interests . . . I don’t intend to make threats, but just simply explain, as I’ve explained to the Attorney General’s office, what we are prepared to do. Should the board vote today (to cancel the state land trust leases) we will be filing a lawsuit today and also seeking a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction,” Pope said. “Likewise, we’ll be filing a petition for review to begin the formal appellate procedure for the board’s vote.”

However, reached for comment Feb. 6, Focus Clean Energy President and Pronghorn’s lead project manager Paul Martin was less direct when asked if a lawsuit will be filed against the State due to Thursday’s outcome.

Martin said while a motion was made to take steps that affect Pronghorn’s state lands leases, “Those leases are still currently in place for Sidewinder and Pronghorn, and we are moving forward with the intention of pursuing these projects as before. Should we decide to file a lawsuit or otherwise take action, we will share an update.”

Martin continued, saying that his company has – and will continue – to act in accordance with Wyoming’s laws and regulations in this matter.

“We hold executed contracts that we have relied upon in order to invest millions of dollars in these projects. We are continuing our efforts to develop the Sidewinder and Pronghorn projects, and we look forward to updating the community in the coming months as we do so,” he stated.

Rancher Mike Stephens, who lives on his family’s generational land next to some of Pronghorn’s state leased lands – and who brought the original lawsuit against the SBLC earlier last year – said he the outcome of the SBLC vote Thursday to stop the leases was somewhat expected.

“I wasn’t surprised, but after that meeting in Douglas (in January) it looked like that was the way it was going to go. But, I was worried it might not go that way. When they start throwing all that legalese in there, you just never know. Kristi Racines said it best at the meeting when she said, ‘The best time to plant a tree is 50 years ago.’ You’ve got to start somewhere.

“People are changing – they don’t want these giant wind towers on Wyoming lands. There are places the (wind towers) should not be,” he said Saturday morning.

Stephens said he expects there’s still much litigation to go through, but continued, “This is a good start. I think our people understood where we are coming from.”

“I hope our (Converse) county commissioners are watching this. They need to plant that tree.”

Gray, in a Feb. 6 press release, said he is proud to vote to end the wind leases in Converse and Niobrara counties and “Will continue to oppose these woke wind leases because they’re wrong for Wyoming and are inconsistent with the fiduciary duty of the board.”

Gray called the Pronghorn H2 Clean Energy Project (renamed to the Pronghorn Project once Martin pulled the hydrogen extraction plant out of the plan a week ago), a “Boondoggle wind proposal.” Gray was the only SBLC member to vote against the lease when it came before the board in April, 2025.

“I know the people of Converse and Niobrara counties have been anxiously awaiting resolution to this issue, especially following Judge Peasley’s decision in December declaring that the board’s initial approval of the wind lease was unlawful . . . The law is clear that because the initial approval of the lease terms has been found unlawful, the board is well within its rights to cancel the wind leases. I will continue to oppose these wind projects,” Gray stated.