WYOMING

Grand Tetons land sale to feds OK’d

CHEYENNE — Wyoming officials voted on Nov. 7 to proceed with selling a spectacular, pristine piece of state property within Grand Teton National Park to the federal government for $100 million and end decades of threats to sell it to the highest-bidding private developer.

The 3-2 vote by the state Board of Land Commissioners — made up of Gov. Mark Gordon and the other top four state elected officials, all Republicans — puts the square-mile parcel with an unobstructed view of the Teton Range a step closer to becoming part of the park.

Conservation and sportsmen's groups have made appeals to keep the property out of private hands even though selling to developers could net the state the highest dollar return.

The state land surrounded by national parkland on all sides has belonged to Wyoming since statehood. However, leasing it for grazing has brought in only a few thousand dollars a year, far below what the state could get from a modest return on investing the proceeds of a sale.

The Wyoming Legislature approved the $100 million purchase in the state budget last winter. Under the deal, a federal fund will provide the land's appraised value of $62 million and privately raised money the rest.

Lawmakers stipulated that the governor could walk away from the deal if a plan by President Joe Biden's administration to limit oil and gas drilling and other development in a vast area of southwestern Wyoming moves ahead.

Municipalities aim to generate electricity

CHEYENNE — In 2025, a bill will come before the Wyoming Legislature that, if approved, would allow Wyoming municipalities to construct and maintain electricity production facilities, likely opening up another possible revenue source for municipalities.

The bill is sponsored by the Wyoming Legislature's Corporations, Elections & Political Subdivisions Committee, which voted on the item at its meeting in late October.

"It was my hope when I proposed this legislation that we could take nonproductive pieces of land, like our closed landfill, and make it financially productive by constructing a solar farm on that land,” Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins said to the governing body.

In his presentation to the committee, Collins said the additional revenue would help fill the anticipated loss in revenue from recent legislation that allows long-term homeowners to apply for property tax exemptions.

Collins said Laramie County Assessor Todd Ernst told him he anticipates between 3,000 and 3,500 people will apply for the exemption. If Ernst's estimations are correct, Collins said the city would have losses in property tax revenues of more than $500,000 next year.

Collins said he hopes this legislation would allow cities to support the growing demand for electricity on the grid rather than compete with existing producers. Citing the anticipated growth in Cheyenne with new data centers and businesses, he said city consumption will jump from 350 megawatts to 1,000 or more MW in the next five years.

Sen. Charles Scott, R-Casper, said he was concerned that establishing “public ownership of the means of production” was “the classic academic definition of socialism.”

IDAHO

Health department bars COVID vaccines

A regional public health department in Idaho is no longer providing COVID-19 vaccines to residents in six counties after a narrow decision by its board.

Southwest District Health appears to be the first in the nation to be restricted from giving COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccinations are an essential function of a public health department.

The six-county district along the Idaho-Oregon border includes three counties in the Boise metropolitan area. Demand for COVID vaccines in the health district has declined — with 1,601 given in 2021 to 64 so far in 2024. The same is true for other vaccines: Idaho has the highest childhood vaccination exemption rate in the nation, and last year, the Southwest District Health Department rushed to contain a rare measles outbreak that sickened 10.

On Oct. 22, the health department's board voted 4-3 in favor of the ban — despite Southwest medical director Dr. Perry Jansen testifying to the vaccine's necessity.

More than 290 public comments opposed his plea, many of which called for an end to vaccine mandates or taxpayer funding of the vaccines, neither of which are happening in the district. Many who spoke at the meeting are nationally known for making the rounds to testify against COVID vaccines, including Dr. Peter McCullough, a Texas cardiologist who sells "contagion emergency kits" that include ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine — drugs that have not been approved to treat COVID-19 and can have dangerous side effects.

Board Chairman Kelly Aberasturi said he plans to ask at the next board meeting if the health department can at least be allowed to vaccinate older patients and residents of long-term care facilities, adding that the board is supposed to be caring for the "health and well-being" of the district's residents.

ARIZONA

Feds finalize land exchange with tribe

CAMP VERDE — U.S. forest managers have finalized a land exchange with the Yavapai-Apache Nation that has been decades in the making and will significantly expand the size of the tribe's reservation in Arizona's Verde Valley, tribal leaders announced Oct. 29.

As part of the arrangement, six parcels of private land acquired over the years by the tribe will be traded to the U.S. Forest Service in exchange for the tribe gaining ownership of 5 square miles of national forest land that is part of the tribe's ancestral homelands. The tribe planned a signing ceremony to celebrate the exchange, which was first proposed in 1996.

While the tribe’s homeland spanned 16,000 square miles in the mid-1800s, the Yavapai-Apache Nation's reservation lands are currently comprised of less than 3 square miles near Camp Verde. Tribal leaders say the small land base hasn't been enough to develop economic opportunities or to meet housing needs.

Aside from growing the reservation, the exchange will bolster efforts by federal land managers to protect the headwaters of the Verde River and ensure the historic Yavapai Ranch is not sold for development. The agreement also will improve recreational access to portions of four national forests in Arizona.