The Casper Star-Tribune reports that Riverton Sen. Eli Bebout is co-sponsoring a bill that would require utilities to search for buyers before retiring a coal-fired power plant in Wyoming.
Senate File 159 reads that failing to do so would result in the state of Wyoming restricting a utility’s ability to make a financial return on the business that replaces the plant, such as a wind farm or natural gas plant.
Wyoming is the largest coal provider in the United States, nearly tripling second-place West Virginia’s production.
Bebout explained to the Casper Star-Tribune that the bill is over concerns about the impact to Wyoming jobs with the possibilities of closures to coal plants.
A spokeswoman for the Wyoming Sierra Club, Connie Wilbert, said the proposal is “misguided.”