It's a fight between Wyoming counties that get revenue/jobs more from coal mining and/or combustion and those that are less coal-dependent. Wind is newer and sm

It's a fight between Wyoming counties that get revenue/jobs more from coal mining and/or combustion and those that are less coal-dependent. Wind is newer and smaller so coal has the more powerful voice at the whole-state level. http://www.wyomingbusinessreport.com/newsletter_am/proposed-wind-tax-threatens-wind-energy-project-again/article_1aa1438a-df1d-11e6-9c33-1ffe3d59d0e3.html http://www.wyomingbusinessreport.com/newsletter_am/proposed-... House Bill 0127, sponsored by Reps. Scott Clem, R-Gillette, and Michael Madden, R-Buffalo, as well as Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, states that in addition to the current $1 tax per megawatt hour on wind energy, there will be a tax of $4 on each megawatt hour. The revenue collected from that $4 hike would go directly into the state general fund, while the original and current single dollar rate would remain in its current 60/40 split with the state. Wyoming is the only state in the nation that taxes wind. “Changing the rules this late in the planning and permitting process seems like retribution,” Carbon County Commissioner Lindy Glode said at a meeting of the Carbon County Council of Governments, where discussion of the bill was on the agenda. Note that this is a separate but similar-in-spirit bill to the proposed $10/MWh tax on wind and solar. The county commissioner from a wind-friendly county is naturally angry that the state is trying to quadruple the wind tax and ensure that none of the increase goes to counties where the wind projects are located. The game is pretty transparent: coal's defenders are trying to ensure that counties with less coal-centered business don't "defect" to hosting renewable projects that could decrease the market demand for coal-fired electricity. Heaping on taxes and not permitting host-counties to get any of that extra tax revenue is how they're trying to do it.