Episode Details

The future of coal may not be as a fuel source for power plants to produce and provide electricity.

Ramaco Resources Inc.'s research facility in Ranchester will help the East Coast metallurgical coal company determine the quality and kinds of critical rare earth magnets buried at different layers of strata below the foothills of the Bighorn Mountains, according to energy reporter Pat Maio.

"There's three things that you can do with coal. One is burn it in a power plant. There's also metallurgical coal, used in steelmaking, and the third thing, which is what they're really focusing on here in Wyoming, is converting or tapping into mined coal and then tap it to make rare earths. And this is a big project, they were estimating that they could have over 30 plus billion dollars worth of rare earths in the ground outside of Ranchester."

The rare earths find in upstate Wyoming near Sheridan is considered one of the biggest in the United States, if not the world.

Read the full story HERE.

When inclement weather hits central Wyoming, folks who need to travel between Shoshoni and Thermopolis in central Wyoming get a little nervous. If there is significant rockfall on the highway, or a major traffic accident occurs, waits can take hours and sometimes days.

So Wyoming transportation officials are studying alternative routes or detours around the Wind River Canyon Scenic Byway between, according to Cowboy State Daily's Jackie Dorothy.

"So the Wind River Canyon Scenic Byway resilience study is about safety. But it's also about more. It's about, what are their options? Can they make another route to go around? Will it be a full time road? Or will it just be a detour that they can use in case of an emergency? And then the question comes up, who will take care of that detour route? Will it be the county or will it be the state? Or will it even be a federal road? These are all questions that WYDOT is hoping that this study will help them answer."

WYDOT has secured a $1.6 million federal grant for the Wind River Canyon Corridor Resilience Study, part of the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity program.

Read the full story HERE.

One Wyoming man died and one was injured Tuesday after a semi truck reportedly tried to beat a train to a temporary crossing on a curved Nebraska highway.

The crash occurred in the far southwest corner of Nebraska, near the Wyoming and Colorado borders. But Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that there is more to the crash than meets the eye.

"Authorities said it seems like the semi truck tried to cross the tracks ahead of the train. But as I dug deeper and followed a follow up statement by the same Sheriff there in Nebraska, they said they're concerned about the railroad crossing. It's a temporary crossing that was put up so that a large feedlot could go in in that area in southwest Nebraska, and there was an accident there in June."

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