Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Thursday, July 24th. I'm Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - Brought to you by Cheyenne Frontier Days! Experience legendary performances during Frontier Nights. Tonight, Luke Bryan is headlining, with Priscilla Block. A perfect blend of country icon and rising star. Only at the 129th Daddy of 'Em all!

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With private companies eyeing Wyoming as a home for small nuclear reactors and accompanying spent fuel disposal sites, lawmakers are weighing risk-versus-opportunity, as they consider whether to greenlight multiplying those sites.

State law already allows temporary, high-level radioactive waste storage facilities within its borders. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that, going into the 2026 winter lawmaking session, the question is whether to also let reactor manufacturers maintain waste facilities in-state.

"The minerals committee is getting ready to decide whether to expand basically waste storage allowances to reactor manufacturers as well as power generators. And… that could multiply these waste facilities throughout Wyoming, but storing one's waste is also a necessary component of the reactor process. And so you have people like, whoa, slow down. Let's give ourselves more ability to dispute these installments. And you have other people like, hey, now is the time to diversify our economy, especially as coal is lagging."

Lawmakers on the Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee are split, as they approach a meeting on the topic this coming Tuesday.

Read the full story HERE.

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What's happening at a single coal-burning power plant serving Colorado Springs reveals how federal and state authorities are clashing over energy policy, with implications for Wyoming coal producers.

The Ray D. Nixon Power Plant has been burning Wyoming Powder River Basin coal since 2003 and was targeted for closure by 2030 under Colorado's plan to reduce regional haze pollution. But Cowboy State Daily's David Madison reports that the EPA under the Trump administration withdrew federal support for that shutdown timeline, possibly extending the life of the plant.

"So it's still scheduled to close. What I think the utility is feeling now, Colorado Springs Utilities, is that they might have some flexibility here, but what really is exposed is a major policy difference between the state government of Colorado and the current administration in Washington. And I think in speaking with Cyrus Western, the region eight administrator, he really said this was us making it clear that there's a new administration with new priorities, and that's really no secret that those priorities are pro coal."

Despite the EPA's decision, Colorado officials have signaled that they plan to proceed with the planned closures of coal-fired power plants.

Read the full story HERE.

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When a fully loaded semitrailer slipped off U.S. Highway 14-A near Lovell and was left hanging precariously over a cliff Tuesday, it took a lot more than a standard tow truck to recover the dangling rig.

That's where Hanser's comes in, a Billings, Montana-based heavy-duty towing and recovery s