SF123 – “Wyoming Energy Dominance Fund” was passed by the Senate on Tuesday, March 4th. This bill proposes a $105 million appropriation to the Wyoming Energy Authority to support fossil fuel projects, carbon capture, and related energy development, using severance taxes for funding.
There is quite a bit of controversy regarding this bill, including those who want wind and solar to be included, and those who are against anything that resembles the Wyoming Business Council’s activities. But the most interesting controversy comes from County17 who reported on the floor debate in their March 4th edition.
From the article titled Wyoming House advances $105M Energy Dominance Fund:
“The House floor debate of Senate File 123 exposed a rift between supporters who view the fund as vital for attracting private investment and critics, led by Rep. Ken Pendergraft, R-Sheridan, who argued that distributing severance taxes as grants amounts to the state ‘picking winners and losers.’
“’The other side says you’re picking winners and losers – it’s welfare for the well-connected,’ Pendergraft told colleagues, emphasizing that once mineral taxes are collected, they belong to the people of Wyoming, not the corporations that extracted them.”
I talked with Representative Pendergraft about what he said and the way County17 edited his statement, changing the meaning of his words. He told me that his full statement wasn’t an argument for or against the bill, but rather a summary of the discussions held over the previous days and weeks.
He sent me the audio file of the statement in question, and this is what he actually said:
“We’ve had a number of discussions about this idea, grants versus loans, just over the last few days, last few weeks. Essentially, I think there are two views. One is that this is an investment in our future, and the ROI is well worth it, and that all the other states are doing it, so we must as well. The other side says, ‘Oh, you’re picking winners and losers, it’s welfare for the well-connected.’ What I see there is just a fundamental worldview difference in what is the role of government.”
Marie Hamilton of the SE Wyoming Sentinel is the author of the County17 article that misquoted Rep. Pendergraft.
One would think that the full quotation by Rep. Pendergraft breaking down both sides of the SF123 debate would have been an informative and necessary part of an article about the debate.
Pendergraft also told me about a previous article where he was misquoted as saying, “I don’t want a bunch of businesses coming to Wyoming.” This has a completely different meaning than his full statement: “I don’t want a bunch of businesses coming to Wyoming looking for a handout.”The Open Range Record previously reported that J.D. Wasserberger of Lusk selectively edited at video of Pendergraft.
Rep. Pendergraft said that being taken out of context is nothing new. “It’s typical horse hockey,” he said. This instance is a very good example of why trust in news media is at an all-time low. Gallup News reports that only 28% of adults living in the United States say they have a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in mass media, while 36% report “not very much” trust, and 34% say they have “none at all.”
According to a February 2026 Gallup News analysis, 57% of U.S. adults have low confidence that journalists act in the public’s best interest, and only 43% express a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence. Information is key, particularly in an election year. The information, however, needs to be accurate.