Governor Gordon & Legislators Square Off On Carbon Capture

Wyoming's Governor Mark Gordon received a “no confidence” rebuke from the Wyoming Republican Party over comments he made about climate change at Harvard University.

Mr. Gordon spoke about Wyoming being committed to reaching "carbon negative" CO2 emissions.

Despite the rebuke, the governor did not budge from his “decarbonization” ideals when speaking on Monday at the Western Governors’ Association meeting in Jackson.

Gordon said there has been some confusion about what “decarbonizing the West” means.

It is about what we do about carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and how we move forward in an aggressive fashion really to address that issue and understanding how all energy sources have a place.

While Governor Gordon believes that CO2 is a pollutant, and needs to be captured and sequestered to fight a "climate crisis," much of the population of the state of Wyoming does not.

A letter of "no confidence" from the Wyoming GOP is nothing more than a note to the Governor expressing displeasure from his own party.

If the state legislative body, which is mostly Republican, takes any action to stop the Governor's work on carbon sequestration and carbon capture remains to be seen.

Recently Governor Gordon signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Governor Jared Polis of Colorado, pledging to work together to advance the capabilities of direct air capture in their respective states.

Is that something that Wyoming's legislators want to spend money on?

Our republic is set up with three equal branches of government. So the legislative branch has the power to put the breaks on anything Governor Gordon has planned.

Wyoming's Legislature meets each year on the second Tuesday of January.

The years alternate between budget sessions and legislative sessions for passing laws.

This next session is a budget session.

We will need to wait and see if the legislative branch withholds any money from any projects Governor Gordon has in mind.

A few legislators that I spoke with said they are working on plans to halt the Governor's progress on these issues. They did not say what those plans were.