Energy Frontier: The Wyoming Landscape

Rob Creager is the Executive Director of the Wyoming Energy Authority, an entitiy with a mission is to advocate, facilitate, and advance Wyoming's energy economy. In an all-of-the above state, WEA covers the entire energy spectrum, including all sources of generation and extraction, distribution through transmission lines, pipelines and export facilities, as well as end use and consumption. I...

Jeff Merrifield is an attorney and partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, a law firm focusing on the technology and life sciences, energy, financial, real estate, and construction sectors. Jeff is a former Commissioner of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and leads the energy section at Pillsbury Wintrhop Shaw Pittman. He is widely recognized as an international thought leader on nucle...

Representative Don Burkhart represented Wyoming House District 15 from 2011 through 2024. He has also served the state in various capacities, including serving as a member of the Energy Resources Council. His career included several different roles related to the nuclear sector. When Wyoming's first large-scale nuclear power plant was announced, Representative Burkhart's fellow legislato...

This episode features Austin Moon, a recent graduate of the School of Energy Resources, and Randall Violett, the inaugural director over the Energy and Environmental Systems concentration in SER's Energy Resource Management and Development undergraduate degree. The guests discuss the curriculum for this educational concentration as well as the career opportunities available to environmental s...

Wyoming is an oil and gas producing state with a significant proportion of Wyoming’s oil coming from enhanced oil recovery using injection of carbon dioxide and other improvement techniques. Dr. Reza Barati is an expert on techniques for enhanced oil recovery and today serves as the Don W. Green Professor of Petroleum Engineering and the Director of the Tertiary Oil Recovery Program at the Univers...

Christi Barry is a University of Wyoming alum who studied geology for her undergraduate degree and then continued her graduate studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas where she studied volcanic and tectonic activity in the region. Ms. Barry has now devoted much of her career to the development of a proposed spent nuclear fuel repository at Yucca Mountain. On the podcast, she discusses her t...

As a top natural gas producing state, Wyoming has led in collaboration between academia, industry, and government to identify new ways to detect and curb methane emissions. Success in reducing methane emissions has changed Wyoming's natural gas production and has allowed production to continue despite mounting regulatory requirements on greenhouse gas emissions. This episode features Dr. Shan...

The development of oil and natural gas results in large amounts of produced water. Wyoming is identifying ways to treat, reuse, and benefit from water produced from oil and natural gas development. This episode features Dr. Jonathan Brant, Director of the Center of Excellence in Produced Water Management at the UW School of Energy Resources. Professor Brant shares the many ways collaboration with...

Kara Choquette is the Director of Communications and Government Relations for Power Company of Wyoming, a wholly owned affiliate of The Anschutz Corporation, who has been dedicated to the development of the Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Wind Energy Project in Carbon County, Wyoming, for many years. This episode features a discussion about the challenges faced and opportunities presented by this pro...

Elected in November 2018, Mark Gordon is Wyoming's 33rd and current Governor. During his tenure, he has actively engaged in all aspects of the issues facing Wyoming's energy sector. In this episode, Governor Gordon and Dr. Krutka discuss the opportunities and challenges Wyoming faces as an energy producing state.

Grant funding opportunities and loan applications from the U.S. Department of Energy now require the submittal of a Community Benefits Plan to "help ensure broadly shared prosperity in the clean energy transition". This episode features Madeleine Lewis and Selena Gerace who have been instrumental in the School of Energy Resources' efforts to prepare CBPs and implement them upon succ...

As a top energy-producing state with abundant wildlife, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department often plays an integral role in ensuring wildlife and habitat protection in areas where energy development occurs. In this episode, Angi Bruce, the new director of Wyoming Game and Fish, discusses how a collaborative partnership between federal entities, Wyoming elected and appointed officials, the energy...

As a top oil and natural gas producing state, Wyoming is identifying ways to improve enhanced oil recovery to minimize stranded, unproduced oil and gas in Wyoming fields. Today's guest, Steve Whitaker, a Senior Petroleum Geologist with the Wyoming Enhanced Oil Recovery Institute (EORI), discusses current projects and techniques in enhanced oil recovery and how these efforts can help maintain...

While coal production has declined from its peak in 2008 by around half, Gillette remains America's Energy Capital and has many opportunities ahead of it with a strong and highly trained workforce, incredible natural resources, and exceptional infrastructure. For these reasons, the School of Energy Resources has a number of projects in the area focused on emerging technologies to leverage Nor...

In this episode, Dr. Holly Krutka is joined by Skip York, founder of DSC Advising, to examine the intersection between energy and economics. Dr. York provides a holistic evaluation of current investments in the global energy sector and discusses whether they are sufficient to meet both environmental commitments and the growing energy demand. 

In this episode, Dr. Krutka discusses SER's professional landman program and its student club, SCER. The guests describe how the industry interacts with SER students and how that elevates their experience while preparing them for their careers.

In this episode, Dr. Krutka is joined by Dr. Sallie Greenberg, an environmental geosciences expert who bridges the gap between rock-solid science, policy, and communication. Sallie and Holly discuss how science, sustainability, and society interact and how embracing this combination can enable greater innovations and results in the carbon management sphere.

This episode focuses on SER's Professional Landman Program, the importance of professional development, and the uniqueness of SER's AAPL program.

Wyoming is home to a wealth of natural resources, including large reservoirs of oil and natural gas, vast reserves of coal and uranium, and the largest deposit of trona in the world. The Wyoming State Geological Survey performs many functions to research and monitor the State's geology so we can better understand and develop these resources. This episode features Erin Campbell, the Wyoming St...

This episode focuses on Wyoming's efforts to identify ways to improve enhanced oil recovery to minimize stranded, unproduced oil and gas from fields in Wyoming.

In this episode, Dr. Krutka is joined by Esther Wagner, one of the authors of a paper recently published by SER titled "Headed West: the Challenges and Opportunities Facing Exports of Wyoming Natural Gas to Decarbonizing Western Markets," and Kara Fornstrom, the Director of CERPA.  The guests discuss the paper and how Wyoming is uniquely positioned to thrive in changing natural gas marke...

In this episode, Dr. Krutka is joined by Caryn Campbell, the Director of Operations for Enbridge's southwest region, to discuss the safety and reliability of pipeline and terminal assets. The hosts also discuss leadership and share some advice for future leaders in STEM.  

This episode is focused on understanding the methodologies used for SER's 2023 Social License Study and summarizes key takeaways with the authors.

In this episode, listeners will learn about the Wyoming Taxpayers Association, get some reflections on the 2024 legislative session as well as the future direction of the organization. The guests will also discuss the Cowboy Family Report, a WTA initiative recently unveiled, including the interactive dashboard.

This episode explores how Wyoming is identifying the opportunities and advantages of the emerging hydrogen economy.