In late January, a legislative meeting in the US state of Wyoming cut to the core of energy debates. One bill in discussion, entitled ‘Make carbon dioxide great again — no net zero, ’ demonstrates general hostility to the energy transition in a predominantly Republican state that has produced coal, oil and gas for generations. But another bill on the meeting agenda, about advanced nuclear energy manufacturing, envisions a lower carbon future for Wyoming: one that has garnered significant interest from local and foreign companies.
“Wyoming is developing an environment that is very interesting to the nuclear industry, and we’re very excited to consider setting up our manufacturing operation in Wyoming,” Matt Wilson, operations director at California-based nuclear start-up Radiant Industries, said in a video call to Wyoming’s minerals, business and economic development committee. The company has chosen Wyoming as one of five states it is considering for a factory to build small modular reactors (SMER).
The industry’s buoyant sentiment is reflected by TerraPower — a Bill Gates-backed start-up that is aiming to build a new 345 megawatt (MW) sodium-cooled nuclear reactor at a retiring coal power plant set in Kemmerer, west Wyoming.
“There are lots of places around the world that claim to be energy superpowers … but Wyoming has everything,” says Jeff Navin, TerraPower’s director of external affairs (see opposite), adding that the state’s large uranium reserves and energy heritage position it well for the next generation of nuclear technologies.
As the US enters the ‘golden age’ promised by president Donald Trump — a climate change sceptic who has vowed to “drill, baby, drill” — Wyoming gives a glimpse into how historic fossil fuel-based economies will balance their legacy industries with opportunities presented by newer lower carbon technologies.
Low-carbon growth?
The landlocked western state is home to fewer than 600,000 people. It has plentiful land, low-carbon projects from carbon capture storage (CCS) to wind farms, and mining of critical minerals like lithium, rare earths and the uranium needed for nuclear reactors. But as the largest coal-producing US state by far — an industry that has declined from its local peak in 2008 — Wyoming’s embrace of alternative energy sources and projects has a dual purpose.
Mark Gordon, a Republican who has served as Wyoming’s governor since 2019, tells fDi that his administration has taken a “balanced, responsible approach” to developing its energy resources: “Wyoming’s ‘all-of-the-above’ energy policies include a belief that carbon capture technology offers the opportunity to address current federal regulations and concerns of consumers over climate issues and provide a path for continued fossil fuel production in the state.”
This year, oil and gas major ExxonMobil will start up the expansion of its CCS facility in La Barge, reducing the site’s emissions by 1.2 million tonnes of CO2 per year. “All this progress can help position the US as a global leader in low-carbon energy,” Dominic Genetti, Exxon’s senior vice president of CCS, wrote in a blog post about 2024 — the company’s best year ever for CCS.
The state’s policies have coincided with a growing appetite to invest in Wyoming from both interstate and overseas companies. Data from fDi Markets shows that a record seven foreign direct investment (FDI) projects were announced in Wyoming in 2024 — up from an annual average of two projects in the previous five years. Combined with its 11 US interstate projects, Wyoming recorded capital investment pledges in 2024 worth more than $3bn, its second-highest-ever annual total (after 2008).
Wyoming’s inward investment has also shifted from predominantly fossil fuels to renewable energy, which fDi Markets shows made up more than half of the total capital committed in 2024. Most prominent among these was Canada-based Enbridge Energy’s plans to invest $1.2bn into a 771MW solar plant, which will supply electricity to new data centres south of Wyoming’s capital, Cheyenne. The state also has some of the best wind potential in the US. This is epitomised by the planned Chokecherry and Sierra Madre project, the US’s largest onshore wind farm under development with a nameplate capacity of 3.5GW.
Coal alternatives
While a few notable projects are underway, there is still local opposition to renewables in Wyoming, which has the highest share of government revenue (59%) from fossil fuel production and marketing among all US states. But a declining local coal industry has brought job losses and the recognition that alternative uses are needed for the state’s recoverable coal, which the Wyoming Geological Survey estimates is over 165 billion tonnes.
The most abundant reserves are found in Wyoming’s northern Powder River Basin (PRB) region. Multiple research projects are underway to look at “coal more as a crude feedstock for chemicals and materials-related processes” rather than just a thermal fuel for combustion, says Jim Ford, a fossil fuel industry veteran and commissioner for Campbell County in the PRB region.
Change of administration
Under the Joe Biden administration, the Bureau of Land Management brought an end to all new coal leasing on federal lands in the PRB by 2041, intending to cease coal production there after 2041. The coal industry is optimistic that Mr Trump will roll back these regulations. “There’s no doubt going to be a much broader push for energy development under the Trump administration in general, and that’ll trickle down to states like Wyoming,” says Randall Atkins, CEO of Ramaco Resources, a producer of metallurgical coal used in steelmaking.
At its Brook Mine project near Sheridan in Wyoming, Ramaco has another prospect: a potentially huge deposit of rare-earths metals — a market where China dominates. A preliminary, independent study by Fluor Corporation published in December 2024 found the development is feasible, but work continues to plan for potential future commercial production.
Wyoming “is a strong hub for not only energy, but the energy transition as well,” Mr Atkins says.
Despite tensions between Wyomingites’ views on the pace of the state’s green transition, Mr Gordon is confident it is poised to fulfil US energy needs under the new administration. “President Trump’s pro-energy, pro-states’ rights mindset will only further Wyoming’s already strong position,” he says.
This article first appeared in the February/March 2025 print edition of fDi Intelligence
