Posted 7-24-08

Governor Remains 'Determined' On Wolf Issue

Gray Wolf. Governor's Office.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (Office of the Governor) -- At a news conference yesterday, Gov. Dave Freudenthal responded to questions on an array of issues including the recent injunction on the status of wolves in the Northern Rockies, the hydrogen conference underway in Laramie and the nation’s lack of an energy policy.

In response to a question about the injunction issued by a Montana judge last week to restore federal protection to gray wolves in the region, the Governor said he is neither optimistic or pessimistic.

“At this stage, for as long as we’ve been at this, one is neither optimistic nor pessimistic - just determined.”

Freudenthal said comments in today’s newspapers that indicated the state of Wyoming would compensate ranchers for the loss of cattle to wolves are being reviewed by the Attorney General’s Office to ensure that is what the law requires in this circumstance. Management of wolves on the ground in Wyoming is once again a federal responsibility.

As for the state’s plans moving forward, the Governor said it is in some ways a question of timing, since appealing the injunction would likely take more than a year.

“One of the things we’ve learned in this is that it’s good to look down the road. Usually what people say is ‘We’re automatically going to appeal.’ But that might not be the best strategy," the Governor said. "The best strategy, both in terms of time and outcome may be for us to go through these deliberations and decide, let’s just get to the merits (of the case).”

Earlier today, the Governor spoke at the state’s first conference on hydrogen energy that is currently underway in Laramie at the University of Wyoming.

“What I wanted to emphasize to them was that clearly, this question about a hydrogen economy is both intriguing and important but that, fundamentally, we need to rethink our approach to energy and look toward a diverse set of technologies and a diverse set of strategies,” he said.

As demand for energy increases worldwide, the Governor said every potential new source of energy should be developed to meet the growing need.

“One of the things that bothers me is that one week I talk to a hydrogen conference where they say it’s only hydrogen. The next week it’s a solar conference and it’s only solar. The next week it’s a wind conference and it’s only wind. What we’ve done is we’ve begun to look at energy, particularly environmentally-sound energy, as a zero sum game. We need to back up and recognize that given not only the growth in world population but the growth of the expectations for so much of the world’s population, that we’re going to need all the technologies we can employ and all of the resources we can employ to meet those demands.”

Energy policy going forward should be technology-neutral, and incentives should encourage the development of diverse sources of energy including clean coal, nuclear, renewables such as wind and emerging sources like hydrogen.

“Policy that is driven by either prejudice or by saying ‘I’m only going to advance the opportunities for my state’ is too short sighted," he said. "But the reason we’ve gotten there is because we don’t have a federal administration that has any energy policy. What they have is a de facto oil only (policy), and everyone else has to fight with each other for fear that, if the hydrogen guys support the production tax credit for wind, does that mean there’s no production tax credit for hydrogen? Somehow you have to end up at a circumstance where everyone has equal access to the opportunity.”