Wyoming residents should be compensated for “loss of property” when huge wind, solar, minerals or other energy projects displace wild critters, a prominent Wyoming legislator said.

Toward that end, Sen. Larry Hicks, R-Baggs, is proposing a bill calling for companies to provide off-site compensation when “there’s an impact (to wildlife) that can’t be mitigated” on-site during energy development.

In most instances, effects on wildlife and habitat can be mitigated on-site by energy developers. But on those “rare occasions” where that’s not possible, compensatory funds could be used to pay for habitat conservation or other projects to benefit wildlife elsewhere in Wyoming, Hicks said.

Hicks is a member of the Wyoming Legislature’s Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources committe

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