Planning commission postpones recommendation on 56,000‑acre Laramie Range wind project after hours of public comment

The Laramie County Planning Commission on a unanimous voice vote postponed a recommendation on the Laramie Range Wind Project after an evening of public testimony that stretched for hours.

Charlie Behnke, development manager for Repsol Renewables North America representing ConnectGen Laramie County LLC, told the commission the project area is roughly 20 miles northwest of Cheyenne and that the application identifies up to 170 potential turbine sites and on‑site infrastructure. Behnke said the project would be built in two phases (first 400 megawatts in 2028 and the remainder in 2029) and estimated a $1.1 billion capital investment for the county, with “over $190,000,000 in property and production tax revenues” and several hundred construction jobs during peak activity.

The presentation emphasized measures the developer says it has taken to reduce wildlife impacts, comply with setbacks and provide decommissioning assurances. Behnke said the project team had coordinated with Wyoming Game and Fish, the Laramie County Fire Authority and WYDOT and submitted an acoustic assessment and other technical studies with its application.

But public comment at the hearing focused on a wide range of concerns from landowners, ranchers, conservation groups and residents. Speakers described long family ties to ranchland, worries about aquifer drawdown and local well failures, potential damage to wildlife and migration routes, visual and night‑sky impacts, road and traffic impacts from large construction vehicles, increased risk of noxious‑weed spread along haul routes, and uncertainty around decommissioning and blade disposal.

“How do you balance private property rights when what you do on your land affects the people around you?” said Representative Gary Brown, who spoke for constituents with land adjacent to the project. Several neighbors recounted recent well declines and asked whether project drilling or new commercial wells would lower water tables for existing domestic wells.

Some property owners urged postponement so maps, turbine sizing and haul routes could be clarified. Wendy Volk, a nearby landowner, said scaled maps provided by the applicant were difficult to interpret at neighborhood scale and urged more time: “This project is 3½ times the size of Cheyenne. We need more time.”

County staff and the applicant said many of the technical issues raised — permit conditions for haul routes, traffic and floodplain crossings, WYDOT access, well permitting through the State Engineer’s Office, and industrial‑siting review by the DEQ — would be addressed in subsequent review stages. Joe Weber, the applicant’s water team representative, told the board the project proposes deep Lance‑formation wells intended to draw from a deeper aquifer and said the team is “confident that there is sufficient water from the deeper aquifers to supply the facility.”

After public comment, a commissioner moved to postpone the commission’s recommendation until the project had been heard by the Industrial Siting Division and additional outstanding questions could be resolved. The motion was seconded and carried on a voice vote. Chairman Coy said the commission remains a recommending body to the Laramie County Board of County Commissioners and encouraged residents to attend the county commissioners’ public hearing on the high‑power transmission lines scheduled the following Tuesday.

What happens next: the commission’s recommendation was postponed pending Industrial Siting Division review and further information; the county commissioners will still hold public hearings on the transmission‑line permit per county procedure.