Gravel mining company Prism Logistics filed a legal challenge Thursday to the Natrona County Board of Commissioners’ authority to block commercial mining on state-owned land.
The commission violated the Wyoming Constitution, Prism contends, when it amended zoning rules in September that effectively halted a controversial mining project at the base of Casper Mountain. Specifically, the commissioners voted to eliminate commercial mining in Mountain Residential 1 areas, including on a cluster of state-owned “school trust” properties near the southern end of Coates Road just west of Casper, where Prism Logistics proposes to mine gravel.
“The issue of law to be determined by this judicial review is whether or not Natrona County…can promulgate a rule that restricts certain land uses on lands wholly owned by the State of Wyoming,” according to Prism’s petition. “Put more simply, can Natrona County dictate how the State of Wyoming, and its lessees, utilize State-owned land?”…