State board kills gravel mining project at base of Casper Mountain
CASPER — The denial to renew eight exploratory leases at the base of Casper Mountain means a project seeking to mine gravel on state-owned lands is dead.
The Wyoming State Board of Land Commissioners — composed of Gov. Mark Gordon, Secretary of State Chuck Gray, Auditor Kristi Racines, Treasurer Curt Meier and Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder — killed the project Thursday after hours of discussion, public comment and questioning opponents and proponents of the project in Cheyenne.
Gray, Racines and Degenfelder all voted to deny the renewal of the lease. Meier voted against the motion to deny. Gordon abstained from voting.
Following the vote, dozens of Natrona County residents who made the trek down to the State Capitol to object to the renewal of the leases quietly cheered and embraced each other after the board took a recess.
“We are relieved for now, and we are headed home. And this stress of going up that road to get home won’t be quite as high tonight,” said Carolyn Griffith, a resident near the leases who heads the Casper Mountain Preservation Alliance.
The alliance was formed to oppose development at the base of Casper Mountain after the discovery of the proposed project by Prism Logistics.
For Kyle True, the CEO of Prism Logistics, the decision of the board was stunning.
“I’m stunned and it’ll take some time to digest this, but I don’t think I have a lease anymore. I think I’m done,” he said following the vote.
“I’m frustrated as a state lands lessee that I took a lease in good faith and I was diligently pursuing development, and then they undid it,” he later added.
16 months of build up
The eight two-year sand, gravel, borrow material, and rip-rap rock leases granted to Prism were initially approved in June and October 2023 through a consent agenda.
Residents around the lease area in February 2024 were stunned to see a backhoe digging into an area of the state lands, according to published reports. No notice of the leases was provided to residents.
Casper residents protested the development of a project seeking to mine gravel at the base of Casper Mountain. A petition against the project gathered more than 13,000 verified signatures and a Casper-based WBLC meeting in April 2024 saw hours of public comment regarding the issue.
The Natrona County Commission took on the issue and banned mining the area of the leases by rezoning the land. Prism, in response to the move, sued the county. The issue remains in litigation.
The Natrona County Commission previously voted at a regularly scheduled commission meeting on May 20 to have its legal counsel draft a letter asking the Office of State Lands and Investments to “deny a renewal of the Prism gravel leases.” The commission has additionally explored imposing weight limits on Coates Road — which would be the road used to access the leased land.
Griffith and other residents of the area near the proposed project site sued the Wyoming Board of Land Commissioners under claims the state violated their rights by not giving them a chance to comment on Prism’s initial leases in 2023.
Prior to the vote
The Board of Land Commissioners on Thursday heard more than an hour of public comment by Casper residents in person and online.
“To destroy part of [Casper] Mountain is to destroy the soul of Casper and Natrona County,” Casper resident Jim Gunderson said. “Come in from the north on I-25 as soon as you cross 20-mile hill you know you’re home because you can see the mountain. Come in from Douglas, you know when you get to that edge you’re home. Come in from off 220 you see the mountain range starting to build up, you know you’re home. You’re flying in from Denver you see Casper Mountain you know you’re about to land in your home.”
Former Casper resident Maria Katherman told commissioners there’s no need to approve the leases because the land is already providing value to area schools.
“I’d like to make the case that those school sections accessed by Coates Road are very much supporting our schools right now,” she said.
Katherman provided the commission with a list of conversations she’s gathered regarding school activities that take place on the land where the leases are located.
“To my mind that is supporting our schools. Those state lands are working so hard to support our schools right now. There are very few of these activities that we can continue to do if it’s gravel mined and reacclimated land, no matter what the reclamation is.”
Degenfelder, prior to voting, added she grew up in Casper and shared a lot of the same experiences as others.
“I was one of those kids who was there for science projects. I went to Crest Hill Elementary School a couple miles away. I went to CY Junior High School; one of my old principals is here today. That is my home. That is where I grew up and had the experiences that I share with so many of you here today,” she said.
This story was published on June 7, 2025.