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Rocky Mountain Power customers and clean energy advocates are gathering in Laramie today for a “people’s hearing” on the utility’s latest Integrated Resource Plan.

The plan, filed by parent company PacifiCorp, commits to burning fossil fuels in Wyoming over the next 20 years while pulling back on solar and wind investments.

Tanner Ewalt, a resident of Laramie, said now is the time to take advantage of expiring federal tax credits. Utility companies have until July of next year to begin construction on clean energy projects but Tanner noted PacifiCorp currently has no plans to break ground.

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"From what I understand, it’s about $2 billion that PacifiCorp is missing out on," Ewalt explained. "That’s $2 billion we’re missing out on. It feels downright foolish not to try to take advantage of that."

According to Sierra Club projections, extending the use of fossil fuels would leave more than 100,000 Wyomingites vulnerable to higher energy bills, largely due to volatile global coal and gas markets.

PacifiCorp has defended its integrated resource planning process, which it said focuses on finding a low-cost and low-risk energy mix with an eye toward effects on ratepayers. Today’s hearing is set for 6 p.m. at Laramie’s Lincoln Community Center.

Fossil fuels may be subject to swings in global markets but Ewalt pointed out the sun and wind are not. He admitted he is just as tied to Wyoming’s fossil fuel-based economy as anyone. As a child, coal and oil industry workers put food on his table and clothes on his back.

"But those jobs are going away," Ewalt asserted. "We need a just transition. We need a pathway for folks that work in coal and oil right now, and other extractive industries, to find places among the new energy sector."

Instead of investing in proven and cheaper energy sources like solar and wind to lower customer bills, Ewalt argued PacifiCorp is doubling down on fossil fuels and expensive and unproven technologies like carbon capture and modular nuclear power.

"We’re plugging in more and more gigawatt-hours of solar every day, same thing with windmills," Ewalt underscored. "We have two easily installed, proven, time-tested methods of producing energy and it feels like the obvious answer is in front of us."