Published: March 14, 2022 |

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Wyoming will soon offer mining companies a new way to fund cleanup work.

House Bill 45, an unusually well-received addition to the state’s current reclamation bonding options, would allow companies mining coal, trona, bentonite, and uranium to contribute reclamation dollars directly into state trusts, rather than paying high premiums for surety bonds financed through third-party insurers.

Many Wyoming coal producers relied historically on self-bonding, which fell out of favor after a series of bankruptcies put reclamation funds in jeopardy. Switching to surety bonding reduced — but didn’t eliminate — risk.

So the state came up with an alternative.

“It’s a good bill, and it’s a great concept,” said Travis Deti, executive director of the Wyoming Mining Association.

“If (companies) want to go all in and do their full bond with that, that’s awesome. If they want to use 20 percent and use sureties for the other 80 percent, they can do that, too. It’s just another tool to help them cover the bonding obligations,” added Deti.

The bill has garnered unusually broad support.

Backers of the new bonding option — which include industry, environmental groups, state regulators, and most of the Legislature — hope it’ll lessen the financial strain on coal companies while ensuring the state has cash on hand for reclamation.

House Bill 45 passed unanimously, first in the House of Representatives, then in the Senate, where it was amended to lower participating companies’ minimum annual contribution from 5 percent to 1 percent of total bonding obligations.

The amended bill was approved again in the House, this time by a vote of 38-17, and signed into law Wednesday by Gov. Mark Gordon.

Now that the framework for direct, cash-based bonding has made it through the Legislature, it will move to the Department of Environmental Quality for rule-making. Those rules must then be approved by the Environmental Quality Council. And once the rules are in place, the deposits can start rolling in.

Source: Casper Star Tribune

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