Wyoming Senate Kills Legislation to Protect the Casper Aquifer

The Wyoming Senate Minerals committee discussed proposed legislation that would protect the Casper Aquifer recently and the results are not great news for Laramie. We began coverage of this legislation a few weeks ago as we spoke with Gary Crum and Gaye Stockman of LEDC who were pushing to have the bill approved. Passing of the bill would have meant further protection of Laramie's exposed water source as well as a new state park.

We talked with Gaye Stockman, director of LEDC, earlier today who told us:

LEDC was of course very much in support of the bill. Anytime that we can protect our natural resources it makes our community stronger and we are very dissappointed that the bill was struck down at the committee level. 

The bill officially died when Senator Chris Rothfuss of Laramie proposed a due pass motion; that motion failed to get a second from another committee member. While the committee seemed to clearly understand the need to protect the Casper Aquifer it questioned how much city and county officials had looked at other options to accomplish the same goal. The parcel of land would have cost the state 15 million dollars to purchase and apparently the justification for the project has not been established far enough at this point. Wyoming Public Media quoted Committee Chairman Eli Bebout saying:

You really have a serious issue and I think we recognize that.  I think that the problem we are having as a committee is with all the testimony we heard today, we just don’t think its gone far enough for us to be able to move forward on $15 million dollars on a stretched budget on something we just don’t understand all the opportunities that are available to you.   

Even though the bill is dead at this time the city and county still plan to proceed with some plans to protect the community's water supply. Other plans to purchase the land may also come into play as they continue to look into the issue in the months to come. As we mentioned in our earlier article, not protecting the aquifer could eventually lead to catastrophe if the exposed surface were to become contaminated; a problem that would cost Laramie dearly as they would have to find an alternate water source.