All eyes on Carbon County

Carbon County has been getting a lot of national and international attention recently. So, too, has former county commissioner and current Rawlins mayor Terry Weickum.

On page A1 of the March 4 New York Times, a train was photographed carrying its cargo with windmills stretching out on a landscape of the high desert. Underneath the picture was the headline 'Wind Rises in Coal Country" (Editor's Note: the headline now reads "Wyoming Coal Country Pivots, Reluctantly, to Wind Farms").

The picture was taken in Carbon County. The story went to A18 and in the spread of pictures were windmills in Carbon County, the Miners' Memorial in Hanna and Weickum.

The next day Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm mentioned Carbon County on PBS along with the article.

In the days that followed, the world became focused on Carbon County and the person that everyone wanted to interview was Weickum.

A month later, Weickum still finds himself talking to foreign and national media.

The reason for all the attention on Weickum is his understanding of wind energy in the state of Wyoming. At one time he was the chairman of the Wyoming County Commissioners Wind Task Committee (WCCWTC).

"One of the reasons that I was, is because of all the activities of wind power in Carbon County," Weickum said. "There was a time 53 different wind projects were being scoped out in the county and that is according to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)."

Weickum said this was occurring around 2005.

"It scared us to death this was happening back then," Weickum said. "But it got slowed down due to the sage grouse core area. The governor designated that core area and that really slowed down the development of a lot of these wind farms, because there were a lot of places they just could not be. It was so crazy, we actually thought about a moratorium on wind farms in Carbon County so we could figure out if we wanted them."

Weickum said that when the county started to look hard at the rules they wanted to put in place, they realized that Albany County probably would have a set of rules, too.

"A lot of wind farms straddle different counties," Weickum said. "So we got to thinking about it and realized it wasn't a county situation, but rather a state situation."

So the WCCWTC came about to address the standards for the wind farms.

"We came up with the taxation of them," Weickum said. "Since that time a lot wind farms have slowed down. Part of it is the economy, part of it is the sage grouse area, part of it is our taxation scheme."

Weickum said that sometimes he comes across people that think that Wyoming is the only place that has wind, but the reality is that Wyoming is in competition with many other states.

"Also there are two types of wind farms," Weickum said.  "There is the (public) utilities type of wind farm and then there is the open market/free lance type. We have both in Carbon County."

The Chokecherry/Sierra Madre wind project is an example of the open market.

"The difference is, the public utility doesn't really care if you add more taxes because they will pass it on to the consumer," Weickum said. "But the open market wind project has to watch even pennies because of the competitive market. So there are a lot of considerations when deciding to tax."

Weickum has gone before the Wyoming State legislature 18 times since the state set the rules.

"Eighteen times they have tried to tax the wind farms out of existence," Weickum said. "Eighteen times the decision has come back, the tax is enough. I can't believe 18 times the same arguments come up. Our own Senator (Larry) Hicks proposed a tax on wind farms."

Weickum said not all the landscape should be home to a wind farm. While private ranch leasing out property to wind energy projects is one thing, placing a wind farm on public land limits the access and other uses of that land such as hunting. That can have an affect on the local economy in preventing the local meat processor from generating as much revenue and putting that money back into the economy.

Though Weickum believes it is important for Carbon County to have wind projects in its future, he also believes that the county needs to be cautious about what projects it approves.

"You can stand in the middle of the train track and try to stop the train or you can stand near the switch and steer it where you want it to go," Weickum said. "It was realized right out the gate that we weren't going to be able to stop them, so it was decided to have them in the best of terms."

Weickum said it all comes down to economics. He felt, back then, if a business was going to bring in jobs it was his duty as a Carbon County Commissioner to help them be as successful as possible. 

"In Wyoming we talk about diversify, diversify, diversify, but when you come up with an idea, by God it better include oil or coal or many don't want to talk about it," Weickum said. "One time I remember talking with legislators about diversification that included wind and they said, 'not that way'. I tried to explain that we had to play with the cards that have been dealt to us. We were given a resource of robust wind."

Because of the years he has spent learning about wind projects and how they can help the future of Wyoming and Carbon County, New York Times journalist Dionne Searcey reached out to him for a story she was looking to do on wind energy.

Weickum said when she was asking her questions about Carbon County and wind energy farms, he suggested that she come out for herself to see exactly what he was talking about.

Searcey and photographer Benjamin Rassmussen did exactly that. The result was front page exposure on the New York Times with a huge article on wind farms in coal country. 

Weickum's prominent voice in the article and later a New York Times podcast that he did on March 16 with Michael Barbaso and Searcey, "The Daily", increased the world's interest in Carbon County and Weickum.

"It has been totally unexpected that it would go this far or be this widespread," Weickum said. "We were on the front page of the largest newspaper in Mexico. It was the same article, but now in Spanish."

Weickum said he has probably talked to 50 different people from media groups around the world since the article broke.

"There are still more people coming," Weickum said. "The saving grace in all this attention is that I know the subject matter pretty well because some of the questions are pretty well thought out."

Weickum said he has experienced some misconceptions about wind energy in Wyoming. According to the former commissioner, visiting journalists are curious to see the shuttered coal mines along with the rows and rows of wind mills. The coal mines in Carbon County, however, closed years ago.

The perception for Weickum is that some of the journalists who have visited and interviewed him are approaching the subject from the idea that he is trying to promote "a cleaner earth". Since the beginning, he says, his support of wind farms has been from the approach of helping the economy.

According to Weickum, the fact that he voted for President Donald Trump twice, yet supports wind energy, came as a surprise to at least one journalist. His support of new wind energy projects in Wyoming, however, is not political but economical.

"I have had some of these reporters come to me in the past weeks saying what a wonderful thing I have done for green energy," Weickum said. "If that is a by-product, that is wonderful, but it wasn't because I am trying to stop global warming. It had everything to do with trying to maintain a fair and balanced approach introducing a new industry. The wind projects were looking to bring us money, which is important to me, because the quality of life begins with a paycheck."

Weickum said it is in Wyoming's best interest to look at new industries and, in his opinion, that is the story.

While there is still attention on Carbon County because of the article, Weickum will do his best to promote the area. He has had news crews visit from as far as Europe-countries such as Holland and Finland- and crews closer to home, such as the South Carolina crew that visited in early April. 

"It is incredible to see all these people come in and buy hotel rooms, purchase meals, tanks of gas and I believe it is going to help our second largest industry, which is tourism," Weickum said. "I am not going to lie, it has been somewhat of a strain talking to so many people and answering their questions and keeping straight who I am supposed to meet, where and when but, so far, because of the attention Carbon County is getting along with Rawlins it is absolutely worth it."