Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon called into the Weekday Wake-Up on Thursday, July 2 to discuss Wyoming coal following the announcement from President Trump for a $700 million investment, the Wall that Heals coming to Star Valley next week and his recent Executive Order regarding data centers.

(0:00) It’s the weekday wake up on SVI Radio, Swift 98 and the Spur. (0:04) Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon now joining us over the phone today to talk a number of items, (0:08) including coal and the wall that heals coming to Lincoln County and Star Valley, (0:12) which the governor will attend. Good morning, Governor.

How are you doing today? (0:16) Hey, doing well. Good morning to you, sir. It’s great to be with you on the radio.

(0:21) Yeah, absolutely appreciate your time as always and want to start right off with (0:25) with the big coal announcement made by the Trump administration, that $700 million investment in (0:31) coal. Of course, you were there in the Oval Office for that announcement. Talk to us about that (0:36) announcement specifically for Wyoming and the impact you think it’ll have on the Cowboy State.

(0:41) Well, I think it’s a major benefit for coal across the country. Of course, I was there with (0:49) the West Virginia governor, Patrick’s a good friend, and we’ve often worked together to protect (0:56) coal. The announcement that the president made will be beneficial.

I think we have about (1:05) five plants of the bunch that they were talking about that burn Wyoming coal. Of most significance (1:13) was the ability to really double down on getting our coal to the West Coast. (1:19) That’s something we’ve been fighting for for a very long time.

I’m also excited to hear, (1:25) and I think this will be a benefit to Wyoming coal producers and the future of coal, (1:31) that the Trump administration is looking at building some new coal plants. As you know, (1:37) because we’ve got Naughton right there, thinking about building new as opposed to just (1:43) extending what we’ve got, that’s a really positive step in the right direction. (1:50) Yeah.

You talk about the possibilities going back to what you said with just the exporting of coal. (1:58) You and I have talked about this on the program on the radio before and what that could do to (2:03) Wyoming. This is opening up Wyoming coal to foreign nations is the idea there, correct? (2:10) Yeah, that’s exactly right.

It’s a time when Japan and Taiwan, both countries we visited, (2:20) and Korea all want Wyoming coal. They all know that they have at least 20% of their generation (2:27) capacity has got to come from coal. They’d like to have our coal because it’s better coal, (2:33) it burns cleaner, it produces less ash.

All of that’s really good news for Wyoming coal. (2:43) You mentioned power plant construction. Of course, Naughton’s already been converted to (2:47) natural gas, still operational but on natural gas.

Recently, we had our representative Scott (2:52) Hiner on the air. He talked about the potential for a demonstration coal plant, maybe somewhere (2:57) in southwest Wyoming. What do you think the likelihood is of Wyoming being able to obtain (3:03) a significant coal-fired power plant somewhere in the state? (3:07) Well, we continue to work to do that.

Of course, that’s been something I’ve worked on my entire (3:12) time, both as treasurer now and as governor, so 14 years of effort to talk about. It is time we (3:20) built some new plant, demonstration or otherwise. It’s really exciting to have the Energy Dominance (3:31) Fund passed by the legislature.

Of course, that’s sort of a copy of the one we had built before. (3:38) I think that, honestly, Duke, I think the efforts that we have made, the people of Wyoming have made (3:46) and the commitment that the legislature has been able to demonstrate to my administration’s efforts (3:54) to keep coal viable has kept it viable. Now, we need to move on and really talk about how important (4:02) it is that we build new generating capacity.

It would be great to have it down in the southwest. (4:09) I am really thrilled to talk about the kinds of technologies we can see, whether they be smaller (4:16) or modular or a little bit larger. It is exciting now with all the data centers to have that kind (4:23) of demand.

I was just with western governors, of course, Governor Cox and I, Governor Cox of Utah (4:31) and I have talked a lot about how important it is to make sure that our most plentiful resource, (4:38) coal, is used. Governors, as we continue to look at coal across the state, of course, (4:43) the impact that this could have on the northeast side, Powder River Basin and the large, large coal (4:49) mines there. How about on the southwest side of the state where we had the smaller coal mines (4:54) in Kemmerer and Sweetwater County? What kind of impact do you see this announcement from the (5:00) Trump administration having on some of the smaller mines like those? Well, I think it’s good for (5:06) everybody.

I put it this way. We have seen the coal market improve a little bit this year. I (5:14) think as people begin to kind of shed the fear of coal and understand how important it is, (5:21) it will be of great, great benefit.

Of course, we have got the Toronto mines right now. A little bit (5:29) concerned about them, to be honest. China has just opened a huge Toronto mine.

It has affected (5:36) the market a bit. So we will continue to work to make sure that Toronto has that potential. That’s (5:42) a source of heat for their processes that is really important for our coal industry in southwestern (5:50) Wyoming.

We are working with Rocky Mountain to make sure they don’t lose heart and keep building (5:58) towards making sure we have new and more efficient and better coal production. We can do it. It’s (6:05) just a matter of will.

I’m with Governor Mark Gordon on the Weekday Wakeup today. Governor, (6:09) right after this announcement was made, you made a quick flight back to Wyoming. In fact, (6:14) we’re right here in Lincoln County and had a public meeting in Kemmerer and talked about a (6:20) number of different items.

I assume coal was one of those. What were some of the takeaways that you (6:24) got from the residents right here in Lincoln County from that meeting following this announcement? (6:30) Well, it’s particularly important, and, Duke, what we’re doing is I’m going around the state (6:39) because, you know, it is an election year, and it is important we have a chance to talk about (6:43) a lot of the issues that are really essential to Wyoming. That’s been how we built our budget this (6:50) year.

That’s what we kept talking about during the legislative session. Being an election year, (6:57) there’s a lot of stuff that comes in from outside, but I wanted to make sure that we had the chance (7:03) to listen to what the peoples in various communities are worried about, what they want to (7:10) hear, what they see as the essentials. So it was kind of good to hear in Kemmerer that people are (7:18) fairly optimistic about what they’re seeing in terms of the energy future, not only coal, but (7:25) also, you know, as the TerraPower plant comes on.

I heard a bit about concerns about education and (7:34) particularly our smaller schools, what, you know, the things that the legislature is wrestling now (7:39) with. How do we make sure that we are able to continually, you know, have the ability to have (7:48) athletics and other activities that are there. You know, I heard a little bit about mental health.

(7:55) That’s obviously been an area Lincoln County has done particularly well in. You know, you’ve (8:00) had some real progress there, trying to double down, make sure that we work to continue to (8:07) make progress there. So it’s an opportunity to talk about what are the essentials for Wyoming (8:14) in terms of what we fund, what’s essential for Wyoming in terms of how we have our revenue.

(8:21) And I’d say, Duke, that one of the big concerns that keeps coming up is what is this, you know, (8:27) what is the situation with property tax? I don’t think people understand that (8:34) local government is funded by property tax. The state doesn’t benefit from it at all. (8:42) And I think that’s just a recurring conversation.

How do we make sure that, (8:49) and this was something that was really important in camera, how do we make sure we have (8:53) good ambulance service? How do we make sure we have good fire? And what are we going to do about (8:59) our hospital down there? Governor Mark Gordon on the weekday wake up today. Governor, you’ll be (9:04) back in Lincoln County actually next week. I understand you’re going to be speaking at the (9:08) opening ceremony in Star Valley and Afton for the wall that heals, the traveling veterans memorial (9:14) that’s coming into Wyoming.

Give us your thoughts on the wall coming to the Cowboys day. That’s a (9:20) big deal. Yeah, it is a big deal.

And the wall is, that particular exhibit is so important for our (9:29) Vietnam vets. You know, Jenny’s brother went off to war when he was 17, didn’t tell his parents, (9:36) came back. He finally retired as a full bird colonel, but he’d served all the way through (9:42) the war in Iraq.

And, you know, there’s just a tremendous commitment to our country. I had a (9:53) cousin that was in Vietnam. I know how important it is.

You talk to veterans around the state (9:59) and their memory, John Schiffer, former Senator, partner of mine. It’s so important to be able to (10:07) have that moment to spend with the wall. And here’s the thing about the traveling exhibit (10:12) that I didn’t fully appreciate.

You know, you go to DC and you see that incredible memorial. It’s (10:21) wonderful. But I did not realize that not all the names of those who passed because of Vietnam or (10:31) somehow involved in Vietnam are on that wall, only people that died in country.

So those that might (10:38) have been evacuated to Japan or, you know, transferred to the Philippines or back to this (10:45) nation who ultimately succumbed, they weren’t on that wall. And so these walls are so important (10:52) because they have the full names of those that died and perished because of that war. And God (11:00) bless every veteran who served there.

God bless America this 250th year. To think about that (11:09) history, you remember how important it is. That’s Governor Mark Gordon this morning.

Governor, (11:17) I did want to just bring up one final question here today. And earlier on in our conversation, (11:21) you brought up data centers. You recently had an executive order regarding data centers in (11:26) the state of Wyoming.

Give us your thoughts there before we wrap things up here. (11:30) Yeah, you bet. And thank you for that, Duke.

You know, executive orders are the tool that (11:36) the executive branch has to guide the way the executive branch works. And so what my executive (11:45) order did was to just make sure that every one of our agencies follows the laws that have been (11:53) passed by the legislature. So when you’re talking about the laws that are important, make sure that (11:59) the state engineer follows the laws that are appropriate there, that the Department of (12:05) Environmental Quality looks at that.

And one of the most important things that is something that (12:11) people in Wyoming need to understand is in our Industrial Siting Act, which is meant to take in (12:18) comprehensively what happens. There are some exemptions for local zoning and other things, (12:25) but we wanted to make sure that every agency to the fullest extent was able to evaluate all of (12:33) these data centers to make sure of a few things. You know, we want to make sure that our water (12:38) isn’t at risk.

And we know that we can do closed loop non-evaporative systems. We call them (12:44) radiators in cars, and we can call them closed loop non-evaporative systems in data. We wanted (12:52) to make sure that rate payers didn’t see a big bump.

And so we wanted to make sure our PSC, (12:58) which governs rates, you know, made sure that if you’re going to build a data center and it’s (13:04) going to cost money to build it and put all the infrastructure in, that the company pays for (13:12) that, not the customers, the rate payers, the normal citizens of Wyoming. So those are the (13:19) things that that EO is meant to do. It’s a good examination of the laws that the legislature has (13:27) already passed.

And I would urge people, if they have questions about it, take a look at that EO, (13:33) and then they’ll have a better idea of what the state should be doing. (13:37) Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon this morning in the Weekday Wakeup. Governor, as always, (13:40) thank you so much for your time.

We’ll see you in a few days. (13:43) Yeah, looking forward to it, Duke. Thanks so much.

(13:46) It’s all part of the SBI Radio Network on SWIFT 98 and the SPUR.