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Utility giant PacifiCorp, which serves customers across a six-state region in the West and operates as Rocky Mountain Power in Wyoming, first gave notice in early 2019 that it was considering moving up retirement dates for some of its coal-power generation fleet. “We also have multiple service lines operating out of Casper.”ĭonate Now The Jim Bridger power plant near Rock Springs during its nightly shift change. “Regarding a short-term plan, we will continue to have a footprint in Rock Springs and will keep some cement crews in the area,” Fuchs said via email. Halliburton plans to remain active in Wyoming, spokeswoman Fuchs said. In the early 2000s, Rock Springs served as Halliburton’s largest fracking headquarters in the world. It is, unfortunately, the nature of the business.” “Mom or dad pick up and start living in North Dakota and come home every two weeks? It’s very disruptive, certainly. “Do you want to pick up and move your family in the middle of the school year?” he asked. Despite that, he said, the layoffs came without warning, and it’s hitting families hard. Employees have been offered job opportunities at Halliburton’s operations in Texas and North Dakota, Smith said. Commissioner Smith said his constituents estimate the number of layoffs in Rock Springs at 185 - 28% of the 650 jobs trimmed throughout Halliburton’s Rocky Mountain region. In an email statement to WyoFile, Halliburton spokeswoman Erin Fuchs said the company is not providing location-specific job-loss numbers. And so do people want to stick around?” Losses stack up But is there a job that’s not oil and gas, and I’m not going to get laid off? They hear of Halliburton, and that scares people off. “Younger people might love living here and love the hunting and everything else. “It’s something of a difficult sell right now,” Smith said of the area’s appeal. The age group shrunk by 5.1% from 2014 to 2018, a rate only exceeded by Vermont and Rhode Island. Wyoming ranks third in the nation for losses among its millennial population, according to the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services’ August edition of Trends. Still, local leaders wonder whether the region can attract new high-paying jobs that might help slow the continual exodus of Wyoming youth who move to urban areas in neighboring states where the rate of job growth is double, and sometimes triple, Wyoming’s. “I think it’s kind of a mixed bag,” Smith said. The region’s trona industry is preparing to expand, Smith said, and Rocky Mountain Power will continue to operate two of its four coal units at the Jim Bridger Plant outside Rock Springs well beyond 2030. At least not one as significant as the downturn of the ‘80s, when bumper stickers reminded everyone, “Last One To Leave, Turn Out The Lights.” Sweetwater County Commissioner Jeffrey Smith said the combination of Halliburton’s layoffs and Rocky Mountain Power’s pending closures doesn’t feel like the harbinger of a bust. Despite that, residents and leaders have yet to come together in a formal capacity to forge a transition plan. But as the clock ticks toward coal plant retirements, few locals deny that the nationwide shift from coal in favor of renewables will fundamentally alter the economic landscape of southwest Wyoming. Residents here are accustomed to the volatility of the oil and gas industry. Thanks for your support of WyoFile! We rely on loyal members like you to sustain our reporting and grow the WyoFile community.Ĭommunities in southwest Wyoming got a double dose of bad news this month as oil and gas company Halliburton announced layoffs at its Rock Springs headquarters just as Wyoming utility Rocky Mountain Power finalized a plan to fast-track the retirement of four of its six coal-fired power units.