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Panel approves requirement to notify Wind River tribes about large industrial siting applications
Summary
Senate File 16 requires the Industrial Siting Division to serve notice to the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribal governments for pending industrial siting waiver requests and permit applications located in the same or adjacent county.
The Minerals, Business & Economic Development Committee voted to report Senate File 16 as due pass after brief testimony from the Department of Environmental Quality and representatives of the governor’s tribal liaisons and the Northern Arapaho Tribe.
Senate File 16 amends the Industrial Siting Act to require that the director serve written or electronic notice to tribal governments—the Eastern Shoshone Tribe, the Northern Arapaho Tribe and any cooperative tribal governing body—when an applicant requests a waiver or files for an industrial siting permit for a facility located in the same or an adjacent county.
Jenny Staben, administrator of industrial siting at DEQ, told the committee the bill codifies an existing courtesy practice. “This bill…require[s] notice when an industrial siting project is placed within a county that is within the same or adjacent to tribal where tribal government is located,” she said, noting the change does not make tribes parties to the permit and that tribal governments may submit a written “limited appearance statement” under the contested-case process that governs industrial siting permits.
Representatives of the governor’s office tribal liaison staff and tribal officials testified in support. Claire Johnson, attorney general for the Northern Arapaho Tribe, told the committee the tribe is in “strong support of the bill as is.” The governor’s office said the measure was agreeable to both Wind River tribes and had been discussed in the interim tribal select committee.
Committee members clarified timing: the bill requires notice within seven days following a request for a waiver and within 10 days following receipt of a permit application. The sponsor and DEQ emphasized the provision provides notification only and does not confer permitting authority or additional legal rights on tribal governments.
Representative Knapp volunteered to carry Senate File 16 to the floor after the committee voted. The roll-call vote recorded seven ayes and no nays; one member was recorded as excused.
The committee record shows the bill’s purpose is to ensure consistent written notice to the Wind River tribes so they may track large industrial projects and exercise participation rights available under contested-case procedures.
