Ranchers Say Don’t Bash Us For Using Our Private Property Rights For Wind Energy

Two Wyoming ranchers say diversification of their land is key to their survival and that property owners should have the freedom to decide what to do with their land. That includes allowing wind farms and other energy development.

Cowboy State Daily | February 5, 2026

A pair of Wyoming ranchers is taking a stand for private property rights as they relate to energy leases. Their strong reaction comes as the Wyoming Legislature and residents debate private property rights and the merits of wind and solar farms. 

In a letter to the editor submitted to Cowboy State Daily, Rob Hendry and Scott Sims say a landowner's right to develop their property as they see fit has always mattered. 

Private property rights, they argue, are not an abstract political talking point in Wyoming.

A Partisan Wedge

Hendry ranches on more than 50,000 acres, a combination of deeded, federal- and state-owned land, between Casper and Riverton.

“There is movement afoot to talk about private property rights in the legislature,” Hendry told Cowboy State Daily. 

In their letter, Hendry and Sims write that "energy should never be a partisan wedge."

Members of Wyoming’s Freedom Caucus are all for private property rights, Hendry said, but “they spin it a little different.” 

The Freedom Caucus believes “your neighbors have just as much say about your private property rights as you do,” Hendry said, because “what you do on your private property affects their private property.

“That’s not right,” he said. 

The Wyoming Freedom Caucus describes itself as a group of legislative representatives dedicated to limited government with an interest in protecting the freedoms of Wyomingites.

Former Freedom Caucus Chairman Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, told Cowboy State Daily he cannot speak for the Freedom Caucus as a whole, but that he intends to always be a champion for private property rights in the state.

“I’ll always try to do everything I can to create an even playing field,” he said.

Bear said he has worked hard to protect property owners from eminent domain for wind transmission lines. 

“It doesn’t do you any good to have a wind on your private property if you can’t get the energy off the private property,” he said.

He also told Cowboy State Daily that “woke wind can’t survive without government subsidies. … Do we want to subsidize woke wind?”

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