Finally, Casper’s Dead Turbines Are Coming Down

If you are driving past Casper, Wyoming, you'll see a cluster of wind turbines in the nearby town of Evansville. They have been inactive for years. Finally, you can see them coming down as you drive by.

These 11 turbines have been idle and inactive for around four years. They only operated for a few months after they were built.

Chevron owns them and is finally taking them down. If you are driving by in the next few months, you'll see that the work is underway to remove the blades and towers.

The state of Wyoming and its counties have rules of reclamation for wind and solar, as well as coal, gas, and oil sites. Everything must be restored to what it was before at the expense of the company that builds them.

But not all of it will be removed. About 80% to 90% of a land-based wind turbine’s concrete and steel foundation remains permanently buried in the ground. Decommissioning guidelines typically require removing only the top 3 to 5 feet (36 to 60 inches) of the structure, backfilling the remaining void with clean topsoil, and reseeding the surface.

black windmills

The company spent some time in 2025 removing the wiring. They will spend the rest of 2026 taking down the blades and towers. Then comes the soil and reclamation work. Finally, in 2027, they will work on erosion control and other land reclamation.

From there, residents might ask where the blades and towers will go. There was some controversy some years back when it was found that wind farms were being allowed to bury blades in Casper's landfills.

The steel and copper will be hauled off for metal recycling.

It is not easy to recycle the fiberglass blades. Currently, the state of Wyoming allows them to be buried at local surface coal mine reclamation pits.