CASPER — A bill to increase Wyoming’s wind tax blows through Cheyenne nearly every year, and every year it dies.
Some lawmakers don’t support the increase because they are afraid of depressing wind investments in Wyoming. For some the tax is unattractive on principle, or because they believe the current wind product tax — unique in the United States — is sufficient.
But supporters persist. They argue that Wyoming wind producers should be taxed and that right now the tax is insufficient. They point to the contribution made by other industries: coal, oil, gas. Wind has an impact, an irreparable change to the landscape of Wyoming too, and the state should be paid for it, they argue.