CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Officials are set to make a final decision this week on a land use regulation change that would open the door to a South Dakota company building a wild horse facility in southeastern Wyoming.
Laramie County commissioners are scheduled to vote Tuesday on the change that would affect any future projects that are deemed concentrated animal feeding operations, including Equine Elite’s proposed facility in Burns.
Currently, any proposed such projects must have the approval of neighbors within a 3-mile radius but the commissioners are considering only requiring neighbors within a mile of a proposed operation to approve, the standard for projects in the rest of the state, the Wyoming Tribune Eagle reported. The standard was raised to 3 miles when a hog operation was proposed.
The county planning commission voted 3-0 against the regulation change.
Equine Elite wants to build a corral which would hold wild horses captured by the Bureau of Land Management, which would pay the company for every day a horse is held. The horses would stay for a year or two before being adopted or transferred to an off-range pasture with more room, said Jason Lutterman, a spokesman for the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program.