Gov. Mark Gordon’s leadership hasn’t been stellar over the past few years as he’s failed to adequately address several problems the state has faced since he assumed office. However, one decision we can get behind is his signing of an emergency order to keep the second unit at the Jim Bridger Power Plant from a premature shutdown through an EPA mandate.
Gordon’s order is not absolute, but it does give much needed breathing room to allow for a solution to be found while saving jobs that would have evaporated with the end of 2021. Our hope is a solution can be found that keeps the unit operating until it can be converted to natural gas.
Of course, this is only the latest chapter in a series of woes hitting the coal industry in Wyoming and we can’t expect to save coal when industries and markets are shifting away for cheaper alternatives that also emit much less carbon into the planet’s atmosphere. We need to fight for all the time we can get to help ease the transition for Wyoming -- something Gordon’s order represents. What the state can’t do however, is simply sit back and rely on such strategies to prevent the inevitable.
Wyoming will have to face this change head on, sooner rather than later.
Right now Gordon’s order helps protect jobs in Sweetwater County, something we’re certainly on board with. Starting the new year unemployed as a result of government regulations is something no person should have to face.
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