Lawmakers pump brakes on fast-tracked mining after gravel pit dustup

Testimony from Casper area residents who oppose the controversial Prism Logistics gravel pit here helped convince a legislative panel on Tuesday to temporarily set aside a draft bill they say would only exacerbate conflicts between mining and nearby communities.

Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee Co-Chairman Rep. Donald Burkhart Jr. (R-Rawlins) agreed with calls from panel members to set aside draft bill Limited mining operations-amendments for further consideration when the committee meets later this year.

The draft is intended to revive a past measure that, among other things, would expand a regulatory exemption for non-coal mines smaller than 15 acres to include any non-coal mineral not under the authority of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality offers a limited mining operations exemption that allows a developer to forgo public notices and pre-operational environmental reviews. The idea to expand the exemption to include rare earth minerals, silver and other hard rock resources stems from an ongoing legislative effort to streamline and cut regulatory hurdles to doing business in the state. Proponents say expanding the exemption is an opportunity to accommodate a flood of interest and investment in so-called “critical minerals.”

But conservation groups — and now thousands of Casper-area residents in opposition to Prism’s proposed gravel mine at the base of Casper Mountain — say expanding the exemption is reckless. Not only does the bill fail to address weaknesses in the existing exemption such as no public notice requirements, it opens the door to mining operations that involve hazardous byproducts.

“A commercial operator … using an LMO has no obligation to perform hydrological assessments of groundwater or prioritize the potential impacts on homes, families and neighborhoods,” Casper Mountain Preservation Alliance Chairperson Carolyn Griffith told the committee. “The onus and expense of demonstrating the inappropriateness of an LMO in this area [Casper Mountain] is falling on potentially affected residents who have no input in the approval process.”

Originally intended for benign gravel pits, and often utilized by ranchers and county road-and-bridge departments, use of the exemption has become a tool for developers to assess the potential for much larger operations.

“The current situation in Casper has shed light on why it’s important to reevaluate requirements for LMOs, rather than expand them further to include all minerals,” Griffith said.

In response to assurances from state regulators that potential impacts are likely addressed via other safeguards, Casper resident Michael Fernald said, “If it was working, we wouldn’t be here today.”

Lander-based Wyoming Outdoor Council’s Government Affairs Manager Era Aranow suggested the exemption is already too lax, and certainly not appropriate for mining activities that involve minerals beyond gravel.

“The minerals in the proposed expansion, particularly the hard-rock minerals, also have a potential for toxic acid-forming or otherwise hazardous waste and should not be exempt from the [larger] mine permitting process,” Aranow testified. “These new minerals require oversight, full-cost bonding, and the public comment period that is absent in an LMO.”

Sheridan-based landowner advocacy group Powder River Basin Resource Council attorney Shannon Anderson provided the committee a copy of a Prism Logistics’ limited mining operations application form to drive home the lack of information required to obtain one. “A limited mining operations application, without public participation, without the rigor of a regular permit application, will create bad decisions in our state,” Anderson said.

Both Prism and representatives of the mining industry in Wyoming have worked closely with the legislative panel to help craft the limited mining operations expansion legislation. Developers who obtain a limited mining operations exemption cannot escape regulatory scrutiny under other mechanisms if they truly pose bigger impacts, Wyoming Mining Association Executive Director Travis Deti testified.

“This is a good little bill. This is a good concept,” Deti said.

One major portion of the draft legislation updates and increases bonding requirements for operations under a limited mining operations exemption. Members of the public testified in support of the revised bonding requirements, and special interest groups — including the mining association — did not oppose them.

In response, the committee will consider a stand-alone bill that includes only the bonding requirement updates.

The committee’s first attempt to pass an expanded exemption sailed through both chambers during the Legislature’s budget session earlier this year. But Gov. Mark Gordon vetoed Senate File 44 — Limited mining operations-amendments for last-minute legislative changes that he said improperly bypassed state statutes.

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