Since Wyoming became a state it has primarily been mineral dependent, and it’s time to change for the better.
Minerals are a multi-billion dollar industry in the state, and the state’s economy is very volatile as a result. Wyoming has forever been subject to the boom-and-bust cycles that we’ve all become accustomed to.
What results is the state undergoing periods of cutting programs that are necessary to the population. Education is facing major cuts, and some counties are struggling very badly. Campbell County School District lost around 500 students this past year to layoffs in the mineral industry, and has been cut so much by the state that they’re considering litigation to be able to operate. Other counties like Albany County haven’t seen as much of an effect because of their lack of mineral dependence, and I think that shows that the state doesn’t have to be so dependent on mineral extraction.
In a way, the state almost operates like an addicted gambler; when the cards are right, the slot machines are paying out, the gambler is happy, has expendable income and doesn’t worry much about the future. When the busts start and the slot machines are eating coins, the gambler has to live in near poverty and cut out everything that’s not absolutely necessary in order to stay above water. Wyoming has been betting on only minerals for far too long, and could really use a diversification of income.
Diversification is tricky, and making up for an industry as large as minerals is probably why the state hasn’t diversified already. I think that there are three viable solutions to adding substance to the Wyoming economy—tourism, land use and renewable energy.
Tourism is a fairly large industry in the state, but seems to be limited mainly to the northwest corner of the state where Yellowstone and Jackson are located. The northeast corner near the Black Hills is a beautiful area, and the southeast corner with the Medicine Bow National Forest and many other recreation areas has so much potential to bring tourism to the state. I think that the state should be pushing outdoor activities, historical sites and beautiful landscapes to the whole country. Wyoming’s population may always be last in the nation, but there’s no reason why people shouldn’t know about the state and all it has to offer.
The state has such a large amount of unadulterated land that it seems almost wasteful for it to all be lands used only for farming, ranching, and grazing, and I think that the space could be cashed in on. One example of this already starting to happen is GT Aeronautics planning to use the Powell Airport as a testing ground for unmanned aerial vehicles. The airspace is semi-restricted, and allows the company to do as much testing as they want without worry of interfering with air traffic. I think something like this at every small-town airport could be very beneficial to the state.
In a similar vein to unused space, I think that larger renewable energy presence could be very beneficial to Wyoming. The state has a large amount of land that could have massive solar panel fields, rows upon rows of wind turbines and even hydroelectric energy along some of the larger rivers. This addition of renewable energy would not only help the state straw away from mineral dependence, but it could also work towards cleaning up the environment and moving away from nonrenewable resources. This option is very expensive, however, and the efficiency of these energy methods is still not near the levels required to replace extracted minerals. So this option could very well be something that has to wait for the next boom cycle.
Wyoming gambles every day on oil, natural gas, and coal prices. It is time the state diversifies itself to avoid such extreme recessions during rough times. If the state can stabilize itself, defunded education and services could be avoided.
