A continuing energy boom in the Rocky Mountains and Northern Great Plains is reshaping the future of what鈥檚 powering America. The three states are feeling this new energy economy differently, and it鈥檚 changing political realities in different ways.
Wyoming
Per capita, Wyoming is the biggest energy producer in the country.
鈥淏y far,鈥� said Wyoming State Treasurer Mark Gordon. 鈥淭exas actually produces a little more energy, but they have a lot more people.鈥�
And as you can see in the above graph on production levels of the three states, almost 75 percent of Wyoming鈥檚 production comes from coal, and the state pays for so much with coal taxes:
- A ton of school funding, including almost all school construction.
- A massive portion of the state鈥檚 general fund.
- It allows the state to go without an income tax.
It鈥檚 a lot of eggs to put in the coal basket though, especially the last few years.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of concern, particularly in the short term, that coal is not in favor,鈥� Gordon said.
, partly from concerns over and regulations on pollution. It鈥檚 also because of the rise of America鈥檚 newest energy gold rush 鈥� an oil and gas boom in places like the Bakken in North Dakota.
North Dakota
Thomas Wilson joined the Army in 2008 and served in Iraq as a machine-gunner. He attended West Point until a back injury sent him home to Wyoming. He鈥檇 been working as a Sheriff鈥檚 deputy for the last year.
Then, he took a job on an oil rig in North Dakota. He started out making $10 an hour more than he did at the Sheriff鈥檚 office, working two weeks on, two weeks off.
鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to compete with a job where you only work half a year,鈥� he said.
A lot of people like Wilson are looking for opportunity. New fracking technologies have transformed the state in the last decade. GDP has more than doubled; unemployment is the lowest in the nation. However, that鈥檚 with housing, schools, roads, and infrastructure.
While officials in Wyoming are worrying about the future of coal, North Dakota is trying to figure out how to manage explosive growth.
Colorado
In Colorado, it鈥檚 yet another issue.
The fracking revolution and wealth have come to this state, too. But here, so much is .
In Greeley, Colorado, about 400 feet off the southeast corner of the Northridge High School track, there stands a two story wall of what looks like giant brown throw pillows. It鈥檚 a sound dampening wall encircling a drilling operation.
Why issues are different in CO than other places in the West? Drilling about 400 feet from high school track.
— Dan Boyce (@BoyceDan)
Fracking operations continue popping up in and around Greeley. Like in many other places around the state, locals are worrying about air and water pollution from the sites or explosions if something were to go wrong.
鈥淲e should be able to have some say in where they put these drilling locations,鈥� said Angela Kirkpatrick, who met with a few other concerned mothers at a proposed site near their children鈥檚 elementary school. 鈥淲e obviously don鈥檛 want them that close to our children and we don鈥檛 want them in our backyards.鈥�
Five communities in Colorado have , bans the state and the . Sara Barwinski is another local mom, she said .
鈥淲e鈥檙e an oil and gas town and there鈥檚 a lot of people whose livelihoods depend on this,鈥� she said.
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