A University of Wyoming Economist says it’s difficult to say how Wyoming will be impacted by the federal sequestration. Anne Alexander says that’s because federal officials are still sorting out the federal cuts and agencies need time to figure out how to deal with them.
“This is a matter of an 85 billion dollar cut that has people involved with it. So you have to give notices to contractors, you have to give notices to civil service folks, and so a lot of the actual dollar amounts and the effects won’t be felt at the very least until the end of the month.”
Governor Matt Mead expressed frustration over the cuts saying that Congress let the sequester occur because its members could not make tough budget decisions. Mead says the impacts will range from education to highways.
Alexander predicts that the oil and gas industry will face negative impacts.
“Going to see a reduction in the ability of BLM, EPA, and all of the other agencies that are involved in this to be able get out and do inspections, to do permitting, and so both exploration and production could fall, or at least see increased wait times to begin processes or to pull things out of the ground.”
Wyoming’s sequester impacts remain unclear
