Gov. Gordon hopeful health orders gone by summer

WORLAND — In addition to being the keynote speaker at the Cloud Peak Counseling ‘End the Stigma’ Mental Health Event on Friday Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon also met with area county commissioners and local government officials and answered questions from area media on a wide range of topics.

Regarding the mental health awareness event Gordon said in Wyoming sometimes it is hard for people to ask for help with the mental health issues because people in Wyoming are told to be tough. “Part of being tough,” he said, “is knowing when to ask for help.”

In a time of budget constraints, Gordon said, unfortunately the Wyoming Department of Health has the largest budget in state government. “You can’t do the kind of cuts we had to do last year without having to cut some programs.”

In a report by the Wyoming Department of Health last year, they were expected to cut $650,000 from the mental health division.

He said Title 25 funding is always an issue. In Wyoming, Title 25 pertains to involuntary hospitalization of mentally ill persons. Under Title 25 chapter 10 a person may be involuntary hospitalized by “a written statement by the applicant and by an examiner that the proposed patient has refused to submit to examination by an examiner, together with a statement of the facts and circumstances supporting the application.”

“I would love to be able to see us able to fund more community support when residents are released back into their communities, because they are more successful, but it is expensive.”

OIL AND GAS

Gordon said he spoke with the commissioners about a variety of topics including the push back on leasing for oil and gas.

“We continue to push back to get leasing going for oil and gas. We had a different approach to regional haze, that Wyoming pushed through during the Reagan Administration that was almost over the finish line, we had a talk with an Environmental Protection Agency administrator [Thursday].

The Regional Haze rule requires the states, in coordination with the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Forest Service, and other interested parties, to develop and implement air quality protection plans to reduce the pollution that causes visibility impairment. The first state plans for regional haze were due in December 2007, according to the EPA.

Gordon said he had similar messages for Congress during testimony given April 27 before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

“America needs to move forward on an all-energy platform and fossil fuels are going to be a part of that platform for a very long time to come. If you are concerned about carbon dioxide in the atmosphere then we can do things about that. We can do carbon capture.”

Regarding the Biden “pause” or moratorium on new oil and gas leases Gordon said, “I was saying clearly you can study what the leasing process looks like while you are issuing leases.” He said he wants to “make sure that the local, state and district offices have latitude to work with oil and gas folks to move production forward.”

Gordon said he talked to area government officials a little bit about that state’s concern with endangered species both with sage grouse and grizzlies.

There were questions about 30x30.

The 30 by 30 program comes from an Executive Order signed by President Joe Biden in January. It states in part regarding “Conserving Our Nation’s Lands and Waters.  (a)  The Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce, the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality, and the heads of other relevant agencies, shall submit a report to the Task Force within 90 days of the date of this order recommending steps that the United States should take, working with state, local, tribal, and territorial governments, agricultural and forest landowners, fishermen, and other key stakeholders, to achieve the goal of conserving at least 30 percent of our lands and waters by 2030.”

Gordon said, “If you read the whole proposal there are pieces in there that talk about supporting local conservation through local conservation districts through weed and pest districts, through recognizing the good work of ranchers and farmers, to the degree that there is more resource coming to ag through those districts, we’re going to try to help make sure that happens.”

He said the state’s interest has “absolutely nothing to do with federal land purchases, only the pieces that come back to funding of local organizations that do conservation work on the ground.”

The local officials also discussed the American Rescue Plan and the state’s approach to it. “We’ve put together a small working group to assess needs and how they are being met. That plan has funds going to municipalities, counties and state. The idea is to find the best way we can put that money to use.

“My biggest point, since it is our great grandkids who are going to be paying for this I want to make sure they actually get some benefit out of this. We are really looking for things that are meaningful and durable and that move us forward.”

SECOND AMENDMENT

Gordon said regarding supporting and defending citizens rights to the Second Amendment, “We’ve done every piece of legislation. [Governor] Dave Freudenthal said we are a Second Amendment sanctuary state, I’ve said that too.

“The point of the matter is nobody is going to come after Wyoming’s guns. I will defend our state’s rights on Second Amendment and every citizen’s rights on Second Amendment till my dying breath. It’s not just politics it’s personal.”

Other issues addressed during questions with media included:

HEALTH ORDERS

•On state health orders due to COVID-19, Gordon said, “Wyoming has done markedly better having in-person students and teachers and done it longer. I’m very hopeful that orders will be a thing of the past come summer. My biggest interest has been to make sure we have graduations … We really think things are moving in the right direction, it is my intent that we don’t have any more orders this summer. People know what this is now and they know how to deal with it. I want to get back to people doing what they feel is the right thing to do.”

Wyoming’s statewide COVID-19 public health orders were extended last week through May 31, according to the Wyoming Department of Health (WDH).

Mask use and physical distancing requirements related to educational institutions remain, except for those receiving variances. Indoor events of more than 500 people may be held at 50 percent of venue capacity with specific mask protocols for large indoor events.

WDH recommends masks in indoor public places for people who aren’t fully vaccinated when common-sense physical distancing cannot be maintained among those who don’t live in the same household.

•”I’m going to do everything I can to enhance agriculture and tourism,” Gordon said.