Project West progresses

Project West, a project aiming to bring a new solution trona mine and soda ash processing facility to Sweetwater County, is making progress towards its goals. The most recent steps in the process included getting approval for a zone map amendment from the Sweetwater County Board of County Commissioners and hosting informational open house meetings in Green River and Rock Springs.

Planning for Zoning

Project West representatives came before the commissioners during the August 15 meeting for the Planning and Zoning public hearing to approve resolutions to change zoning for the area from Agricultural A to Mineral Development MD1. Megann Toomer from Planning and Zoning explained that the project will have two locations, one for the soda ash processing plant and one further south for the solution mining area.

The processing plant location is near Granger, while the solution mining area is approximately 16 miles to the southeast.

According to Toomer there is plenty of land zoned for agriculture still in the area, and the locations are close to other lands zoned for MD1 with other trona mines not far away. The area is "exactly where we want these types of projects to go," Toomer said.

The Planning and Zoning board voted to recommend the zone changes, and the commissioners voted unanimously to approve them.

"We appreciate you guys' community involvement," County Commission Chairman Keaton West told the Project West representatives. "It's an exciting project to bring into Sweetwater County and we're anxious to have it here. We appreciate the investment and look forward to all the revenue it's going to bring in." 

"We're excited to bring it to Southwest Wyoming and open up those trona reserves south of Green River that haven't been accessed yet," Craig Rood, the future plant manager, told the commissioners.

Sharing information

With the zoning changes approved, the Project West team turned their focus to the public open house meetings in Green River and Rock Springs last Wednesday and Thursday. The meetings were two out of five Project West planned, with the others being in Granger, Kemmerer, and Evanston.

City and county officials, business and industry representatives, and members of the public attended the open house in Green River. Posters were set up to give information about what the project is and what the process will look like, including maps, charts, and diagrams. Project West team members were also on hand to give more information and answer questions.

The project will involve mining trona by injecting a hot water injection solution underground, dissolving the trona, pumping the brine to the surface, and processing it into soda ash and baking soda. A pipeline will carry the brine from the mine site to the processing plant, where it will be processed and shipped via rail.

Much of the information shared about Project West at the open house pertained to the ways the project will impact the economy and workforce in Sweetwater County, both during construction and in the future.

"It'll generate tax revenue and it'll generate jobs," Liz Brimmer from the Project West team said.

The total Project West investment is approximately $2.6 billion. The project is estimated to generate $104 million in local sales and use taxes during construction, and the estimated local material purchases are approximately $84 million. Over the life of the project, Project West anticipates generating approximately $327 million in property taxes. In the future, the trona mining is expected to result in approximately $15 million annually in mineral severance and production taxes.

The project is also expected to bring a number of jobs to Southwest Wyoming, especially during construction. Approximately 1,200 jobs will be added to Wyoming's economy during the peak of construction, with an estimated 800 jobs over the 24-month construction period, and approximately 300 permanent positions for long-term operations.

While timelines are always an approximate goal, the hope is to start construction at the beginning of 2025 and have it completed over a two-year period so operations can begin in 2027.

Before construction can begin, however, the next step is to submit the Industrial Siting permit application.

Industrial Siting

The open houses were one of the requirements in Project West's Industrial Siting permit pre-application process.

Industrial Siting permits are required for large projects and are overseen by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality's Industrial Siting Division and the Industrial Siting Council.

Alan Edwards, who was the administrator and deputy director of the ISD until just a few weeks ago when he was promoted, and Christopher Toalson, an economist from the ISD, both attended the open houses in Green River and Rock Springs so they could introduce themselves to local government leaders and explain how the ISD process benefits communities impacted by large projects.

"The industrial siting process is focused on identifying what local impacts might occur as a result of the project," Edwards explained.

Projects have to complete studies and determine the impact on areas like wildlife, geology, and cultural and socioeconomic impacts.

The Industrial Siting Council, which is made up of volunteers from across Wyoming, can also award impact assistance funding to impacted local governments to alleviate whatever unmitigated impacts affected the community.

"It's very important for the communities to be a part of the process because if they don't make a request, then they don't get the funding," Toalson explained.

Project West is still in the pre-application process, part of which is sharing information through events like the open houses.

"Public outreach is a required part of the process," Toalson said. "However, Project West is, from my understanding, doing more public outreach than is strictly required under statute, so that's a really good thing."

Connecting with the community

Reaching out to local communities is important to Project West and to Oguz "Oz" Erkan, the Ciner US CEO who is helping oversee the project. Erkan attended the open houses and was happy to share how Project West is progressing according to plan.

"We're tracking, people are excited," Erkan said. "The timeline speaks for itself."

Part of Project West's success, according to Erkan, is that they know the industry well enough to know how things will happen, but also the fact that they're honest and open in the process.

"We actually are progressing and we're not temporary temporary investors," he added. "We're here to stay, here to grow."

Connecting with people is also a crucial part of the process that helps everyone.

"It's important that the community is excited," Erkan said. "And this is one way to be able to not only give back to our community, but it's like a win-win-win."