Sage grouse compensatory mitigation-amendments.

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not specify what happens if operators do not follow the new rules.

Sage Grouse Compensatory Mitigation Act

This law allows companies to take steps to protect sage grouse habitat and receive credit for it, while also setting rules about how this process works.

What This Bill Does

• Allows operators to perform compensatory mitigation measures in a service area that includes the same or reasonably equivalent properties in Wyoming to where impacts occur and receive credit from the Board of Land Commissioners for those measures.
• Requires the Board of Land Commissioners to make rules about how companies can earn credits for protecting sage grouse habitat.
• States that no person has the right of eminent domain for compensatory mitigation activities.

Who It Names or Affects

• Operators who work in areas where sage grouse live and may impact their habitat.
• The Board of Land Commissioners, which will make rules about how the credit system works.

Terms To Know

Compensatory mitigation

Actions taken to fix damage done to an environment or wildlife by doing something positive elsewhere.

Eminent domain

The power of the government to take private property for public use, usually with compensation.

Limits and Unknowns

• It is not clear how much land will be affected by this law.
• The rules that the Board of Land Commissioners must create have not been made yet and are unknown at this time.

Official Summary Text

Bill Summary - 25LSO-0765

Bill No.:

SF0179

Effective:

7/1/2025

LSO No.:

25LSO-0765

Enrolled Act No.:

SEA No. 0038

Chapter No.:

71

Prime Sponsor:

Barlow

Catch Title:

Sage grouse compensatory mitigation-amendments.

Has Report:

No

Subject:

Authorizing operator-offered mitigation measures for greater sage-grouse.

Summary/Major Elements:

The Wyoming Greater Sage Grouse Compensatory Mitigation Act establishes a compensatory mitigation credit system to allow for development while avoiding, minimizing, and mitigating impacts to ensure the long-term sustainability of greater sage-grouse populations and habitats.

This act provides that, for purposes of compensatory mitigation of greater sage-grouse habitats, an operator may perform compensatory mitigation measures in a service area that includes the same or reasonably equivalent property in Wyoming to where the impacts occur and receive credit for those measures.

The act provides that the operator retains responsibility for the mitigation measures for the entire period of the expected impact and can only delegate the responsibility to a mitigation credit provider if the Board of Land Commissioners approves.

The act specifies that no person has the right of eminent domain for compensatory mitigation activities.

The act requires the Board of Land Commissioners to promulgate necessary rules to implement the act.

The above summary is not an official publication of the Wyoming Legislature and is not an official statement of legislative intent.

While the Legislative Service Office endeavored to provide accurate information in this summary, it should not be relied upon as a comprehensive abstract of the bill.

Current Bill Text

25LSO-0765

ORIGINAL Senate

File No
.
SF0179

ENROLLED ACT NO. 38,

SENATE

SIXTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2025 General Session

AN ACT relating to sage grouse implementation and mitigation credits; specifying that operator-offered mitigation measures may be used and approved to address impacts to greater sage-grouse habitat; specifying that eminent domain shall not be used to provide for mitigation activities; requiring rulemaking; and providing for an effective date.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:

Section 1
.

W.S. 9
‑
19
‑
203(b)(vi) and by creating new subsections (f) and (g) is amended to read:

9
‑
19
‑
203.

Compensatory mitigation; guidelines.

(b)

The board of land commissioners, after consultation as appropriate with the department of agriculture, the department of environmental quality, the game and fish department, the oil and gas conservation commission, the department of transportation and the Wyoming wildlife and natural resource trust account board, shall adopt rules for the establishment and administration of a compensatory mitigation credit system for greater sage grouse in Wyoming, including rules for evaluating ecological functions, services and values. The rules shall at a minimum provide for:

(vi)

Criteria for other forms of mitigation, including operator
‑
offered measures and
operator
‑
offered
restoration credits
, in accordance with subsection (f) of this section,
and measures for reduced or eliminated take;

(f)

In lieu of or in addition to the compensatory mitigation credit system provided in this act, an operator may perform compensatory mitigation measures in a service area that includes the same or reasonably equivalent properties in Wyoming to the lands where impacts occur and receive credit from the board of land commissioners for those measures. The operator shall retain responsibility for the mitigation measures for the entire period of the expected impact. The operator shall not delegate the responsibility for the mitigation measures except to a mitigation credit provider upon approval by the board of land commissioners.

(g)

No person shall have the right of eminent domain for compensatory mitigation activities specified in this act.

Section 2
.

The board of land commissioners shall promulgate all rules necessary to implement this act.

Section 3
.

This act is effective July 1, 2025
.

(END)

Speaker of the House

President of the Senate

Governor

TIME APPROVED: _________

DATE APPROVED: _________

I hereby certify that this act originated in the Senate.

Chief Clerk

1