[{"_1":2,"_88":-5,"_89":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,76],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},"mediaId",6671794,"mediaKeyId","2149268-7fa6a7a77ac6f9ed72619e69bc9df2e9","parentId",2149268,"title","Panel tables geoengineering ban after debate over cloud seeding, monitoring and costs","audioSeconds",3039,"startMs",2167000,"endMs",5206000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2149268-7fa6a7a77ac6f9ed72619e69bc9df2e9&start=2167&end=5206","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2149268-7fa6a7a77ac6f9ed72619e69bc9df2e9/thumbnail_2167000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6671794/Wyoming/Panel-tables-geoengineering-ban-after-debate-over-cloud-seeding-monitoring-and-costs","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6671794-86a9b66bcc24a26d361a9b1327bbd003/orig.mp4?Expires=1774956379&Signature=VMvg6zlyt28DyvzR9BRlYx9GBkilstYD0CCQYwSwq8SqYm7kr1JNHf2b962OlD071HwiMvfUv1c5Jngw~t8gNNSHfoTL6yicEPl9dxFexRLNBeQIeWISD0XWTmyH9ScHLBjbxV5CfNHnd8qJUBz9IldJui7Nf~jre2EOAopkYWciIVLTUvwzyiUDniLXSx1rPhfAqzr7h5yiXOHU4gmtWmy-OEa8gdMt3W7cKUNipnt4vXUO3MdKMei6DQekbvdvFADJcs9s7bKLxpm5vsxTa2kR2y1h6Gm9O8zASSAA7anqq4bn0wISPAEmqz8VtxTveIrPqBiYqq~cQtgZ4iUcTA__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Wyoming Legislature","date","2025-01-24T17:15:34.533Z","article","The Minerals, Business & Economic Development Committee took testimony on House Bill 208, a proposal to prohibit atmospheric geoengineering and require state testing of sites subject to geoengineering, and ultimately tabled the bill pending further study.

Vice Chair Ruben Tarver, who introduced the bill, said it reflects constituent concern about spraying particles into the atmosphere to alter temperature or precipitation and that the measure was modeled on recently enacted legislation in another state. “It just puts in place testing requirements so we can at least get a benchmark and start the measuring process,” Tarver said.

Several state officials and technical witnesses told the committee the bill, as drafted, would curtail or conflict with existing cloud seeding programs and that the state lacks the monitoring network and agreed methodologies called for in the text.

Jason Meade, director of the Water Development Office, and Barry Lawrence, deputy director for planning, summarized Wyoming’s cloud seeding operations and defended the program as a long-running tool for snowpack augmentation. Lawrence said the state’s cloud seeding program has run in various forms for nearly 20 years and targets three mountain ranges — the Medicine Bowes, Sierra Madres and Wind River Range — during a November-to-April season. He said evaluations conducted as part of the program, including independent analysis by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and testing by the Desert Research Institute, showed “a positive seeding effect in the order of 5 to 15 percent for precipitation on seedable storms” and negligible environmental impacts in baseline sampling.

Lawrence also presented benefit and cost estimates from a hydrologic assessment: simulated seeding in one analyzed winter routed to streams produced additional flow that the study aggregated to roughly 7,100 acre‑feet of additional water for the basins studied, and program costs per acre‑foot in the analysis ranged from about $56 to $124, with a median near $81 per acre‑foot.

Nancy Veer, administrator of the DEQ Air Quality Division, told the committee the state’s air monitoring network is ground‑based and that the EPA supports a chemical speciation sampler in Cheyenne; DEQ does not maintain instrumentation or protocols to sample air at higher altitudes or to identify mobile aerial sources. “We do not have any monitors that go up higher than [five to] 10 meters,” Veer said. She outlined practical challenges for enforcement and tracing any airborne constituent to a specific aircraft or operator and warned that the bill’s sampling methods (including references to transmission electron microscopy) would be costly.

Todd Parfitt, DEQ director, and DEQ staff detailed the likely fiscal consequences: the bill’s laboratory and sample‑analysis language would require expensive equipment and outside laboratory services. DEQ and Water Development Office staff suggested adjusting the bill to exempt permitted weather‑modification activities conducted under the state engineer’s authority; the state engineer’s office provided a draft amendment to that effect.

Chris Brown of the attorney general’s office flagged compact and basin implications: cloud seeding is part of a suite of tools used by upper‑basin states to augment flows and address Colorado River obligations, and partners in the lower basin help fund upstream programs.

Jeff French, atmospheric scientist at the University of Wyoming, told the committee cloud seeding is a narrow subset of geoengineering and that scientific advances in the last two decades have improved understanding and performance; he said cloud seeding can be effective under limited, specific atmospheric conditions and that separate solar‑radiation‑management proposals (for example, marine cloud brightening) are a different category.

Public comments were mixed: industry and water users (including the Wyoming Mining Association and trona producers) defended the state cloud seeding program as a tool for water supply; private citizens urged prohibition or independent testing and raised health concerns. After public testimony, a committee member moved to table HB 208 and send it to interim study for further work on monitoring methods, authority conflicts and health questions. Committee members voted by voice to table the bill.

Ending: Committee members asked for revised language that would preserve permitted cloud seeding under the state engineer while addressing constituent concerns and the feasibility of statewide monitoring.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","House Minerals, Business & Economic Development Committee, January 24, 2025","oneSentenceSummary","House Bill 208, which would prohibit atmospheric geoengineering and impose monitoring requirements, was tabled after testimony showed it would conflict with Wyoming's long-running cloud seeding program, raise monitoring and jurisdictional questions, and carry substantial sampling costs.","taxTitle","Minerals, Business & Economic Development Committee, House of Representative, Committees, Legislative, Wyoming","taxId",64732,"location","Wyoming","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":77,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":78,"_41":79,"_43":80,"_45":81,"_47":82,"_49":83,"_51":84,"_53":85,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":86,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":87,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6671799,"Committee tables hydrogen severance tax bill after administration and valuation concerns",2150,0,2150000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2149268-7fa6a7a77ac6f9ed72619e69bc9df2e9&start=0&end=2150","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2149268-7fa6a7a77ac6f9ed72619e69bc9df2e9/thumbnail_0.jpg","/articles/6671799/Wyoming/Committee-tables-hydrogen-severance-tax-bill-after-administration-and-valuation-concerns","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6671799-0c717fdf2c707c416924d22889835fe6/orig.mp4?Expires=1774956379&Signature=WkFFJiiMcfjUQZ3I3QWmzL4bex-9pwLwLAE41RBuUuIUMqpUiXdoiah0l4GBXIBqqa9c6F2W~0f~uWr81XinzG-Nn58zq6n4DHfAD-JdwG6dNpP~l2~uopyg658IPbA7Olmk8Iqo13G8hRClOD1fT3T1P1ZE4wAM~jsAC5zIDGic-6no8bK0x~AkCnnmSQnprqhX-DH-ztmTQwKwUQb44h3Rsh0jd6RUxelQdRhmJ8UfM7fziXRtvzBCxDRERzz8Mkj2vHzQsEGQgQFltmAIwDKe-UnafRs-acUB3E7ydazFgj5YXe3cg0HahsgEZQGFlwN5ZoEmLGY0vyoo0KQ~cQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","The Minerals, Business & Economic Development Committee considered House Bill 161, a bill to impose severance taxes on hydrogen produced from water, but tabled the measure for interim study after testimony raised legal and administrative questions.

Vice Chair Ruben Tarver, who presented the bill, described it as “pretty short and sweet,” saying it would provide language to tax hydrogen produced from either produced water or fresh water. Tarver said the bill differentiates a lower tax rate for hydrogen made from byproduct (produced) water and a higher severance rate for hydrogen produced from water used as a feedstock.

The bill would apply two separate rates: a 3% rate for hydrogen made from byproduct water and a 6% severance rate for hydrogen produced from water used as a feedstock. Representative Knapp summarized the structure during questions: “you've got 2 different tax rates basically. 1 is a byproduct water at, 3% and 1 is a, produced from water, which is at a severance rate of 6%.”

Matt Sachet, administrator of the Mineral Tax Division at the Wyoming Department of Revenue, told the committee the measure raises novel administrative issues. “This would be the first time we would be applying a severance tax to something that is not taxable at the point of severance,” Sachet said, noting that water is not currently taxable at the point it is severed and that the bill lacks a clear “point of valuation” for taxed hydrogen. He said the department would need an explicit valuation point (for example, the wellhead or a custody-transfer meter) to determine what is deductible and what is taxable.

Committee members asked technical questions about hydrogen types and feedstocks. Representative Kelly Campbell noted that hydrogen is classified by feedstock and process (so-called color codes such as green or blue hydrogen) and asked whether the bill intentionally targets water-based production. Tarver and Sachet said the bill was meant to address hydrogen produced from water.

Sachet suggested alternative approaches for administration, including treating the tax more like a sales tax rather than a severance tax if the legislature wished to tax hydrogen created after production rather than the raw mineral at severance.

Industry witnesses and interested parties urged caution. Pete Obermueller, president of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming, said the proposal needs more work and recommended more technical briefings and stakeholder discussions before enactment. Attorney Shane Schultz said potential investors and developers would want a clearer tax framework before moving projects forward. Local engineer Bill Winnie recommended taxing at the point where hydrogen is purified and becomes a saleable fuel.

Representative Lalley moved to table the bill and refer it as a priority for the interim study; Representative Campbell seconded the motion. The committee voted by voice and tabled HB 161, with members saying the bill merits more research on valuation, feedstock definitions and administration before the legislature acts.

Ending: Committee members and witnesses recommended an interim study to clarify valuation rules, the tax point and how to distinguish hydrogen feedstocks before the bill is amended and reintroduced.","The Minerals, Business & Economic Development Committee postponed action on House Bill 161, a proposal to impose severance taxes on hydrogen produced from water, after state tax administrators and industry witnesses said the measure needs more work on valuation, point of taxation and definitions.","actionData","errors"]

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Panel tables geoengineering ban after debate over cloud seeding, monitoring and costs

Committee tables hydrogen severance tax bill after administration and valuation concerns