The Wyoming House of Representatives passed two bills on first reading during the Feb. 24 floor session related to the disposal of wind turbine parts. House Bill 217 would ban the disposal of wind turbine blades in Wyoming landfills. The blades could be discarded at facilities which aim to reuses recycle, breaks down or repurpose the blades.
“We need to re-purpose these blades,” House District 59 Representative Bunky Loucks said ahead of the vote. “There is lots of new research out there saying that these can be recycled. It is in the best interest of the state to not pile them up into our landfills. Have them re-purposed.”
A separate bill would allow the disposal of the wind blades at former coal mine sites being reclaimed. House Bill 129 would allow only the base material of blades and towers to be buried in abandoned coal mine sites, requiring “the removal of all mechanical, electrical and other materials from the decommissioned wind turbine blades and towers.”
“These are not parts that can be recycled,” House District 03 Representative Eric Barlow said. “It keeps them out of the land fills. It maybe generate a little bit of a revenue for those coal mines.” An amendment to House Bill 129 aims to define in statute that reclaimed coal mine sites would not fall under landfall regulations.