A legislative committee advanced two measures on Tuesday aimed at streamlining the permitting process for small gold, rare-earth-element and other hard-rock mines, despite having tabled the matter in July following public outcry.
One draft bill to increase bonding amounts to cover clean up costs has received wide support from stakeholders and no opposition from small mine operators or the Wyoming Mining Association.
A second measure expanding a regulatory exemption typically used for small sand and gravel operations to other minerals, however, was vehemently opposed by conservation groups and an alliance of Casper-area residents who say the current approach is woefully flawed and would harm residents if expanded. The exemption effectively shortcuts the regulatory review process otherwise applied to a mining operation, including much of the environmental impact analysis and opportunity for public comment.
“As my neighbors and others in my community have become aware of the [limited mining operations] process, they’ve been as shocked as I was at how little is required to start up a mine of 15 acres in size,” Casper Mountain Preservation Alliance Chairperson Carolyn Griffith testified before the Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee in Cheyenne. “This feels like a loophole formulated to dodge the rigor of safe mining practices.”
Rare earth minerals. (Peggy Greb/USDA)
Proponents of expanding the exemption to other hard-rock minerals, however, see the effort as an economic development opportunity that can counterbalance the declining coal industry by taking the advantage of increasing interest in rare earth and other minerals.
“We’ve got a lot of new stuff coming online,” Wyoming Mining Association Executive Director Travis Deti told the committee. “With what’s happening in our coal industry right now, and the state’s reliance on extraction — for not only revenue, but jobs — this is an opportunity to bring some of those new non-coal sectors online.”
Limited mining operations
Currently, mine operators — and, often, ranchers — apply to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality for limited mining operation exemptions for sand, gravel and other benign resources for operations smaller than 15 acres. The exemption, which consists of a one-page form, allows both DEQ and a developer to forgo public notices, public comment and pre-operational environmental reviews. That’s the permitting process that commercial gravel supplier Prism Logistics has said it plans to use to establish a hotly contested new gravel mine at the base of Casper Mountain west of town.
It’s an affordable and practical option for companies like Prism, company officials have said, because it allows an operator to initiate production to determine whether it wants to expand mining beyond 15 acres and take on the expense of applying for a different permit that does require public notices, public input and environmental review.
Gov. Mark Gordon, left, visits with residents at the base of Casper Mountain April 2, 2024 where a developer is considering a gravel mining operation. (Courtesy of the Office of Governor Mark Gordon)
But by the time a limited-mining-operation developer decides to expand and apply for a more stringent permit with the state, opponents say, it’s likely too late to meaningfully challenge or relocate a project.
Not only does the legislation advanced by the Minerals Committee fail to add a public notification requirement to the exemption process, as advocates had requested, it expands the list of eligible operations to include other hard-rock minerals that are associated with potentially toxic chemicals. That’s an added threat to the environment and people recreating and living near such operations, opponents say.
“Effectively, this would take away public comment for those minerals that are currently subject to a permitting process,” Wyoming Outdoor Council Program Director Alec Underwood testified before the committee. ‘We think the application process and approval for [limited mining operations] has some holes in it in terms of understanding what the impact will be. There’s a reason that hard-rock materials are currently subject to a permitting process, and that’s because they have the potential to, in some cases, create perpetual environmental harm.”
“With what’s happening in our coal industry right now, and the state’s reliance on extraction — for not only revenue, but jobs — this is an opportunity to bring some of those new non-coal sectors online.”
Travis Deti, Wyoming Mining Association
Opposition to expanding the exemption is likely due to people being “unfamiliar with the extractive industries,” Prism Manager Kyle True told the committee while speaking in favor of the legislation. They “have assumed that any operation will have permanent, detrimental effects.”
Legislative effort
The effort to expand the limited mining operations exemption cruised through the Legislature earlier this year until the bill was amended late in the session in response to opposition to Prism’s proposed gravel pit on Casper Mountain. Gordon vetoed Senate File 44 – Limited mining operations-amendments, he said at the time, because the last-minute amendments included a requirement to obtain a “conditional use permit” from counties, which would improperly shift management of school trust lands from the state.
Prism proposes to mine gravel on a cluster of state-owned school trust lands at the base of Casper Mountain.
Though the Minerals Committee advanced two separate bill drafts regarding limited mining operations this week, outgoing committee co-chairman Rep. Donald Burkhart Jr. (R-Rawlins) said the committee must ultimately choose only one of the bills to introduce to the full Legislature in January, otherwise the bills would create conflicting statutes.
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