“Officials are planning for devastating budget cuts in a state that some economists describe as suffering from a ‘resource curse,’ a term often used for developing nations that underperform economically despite having an abundance of natural resources.

‘The old joke in Wyoming is all you need to use to go coal mining is a three-iron. People were told that coal will always be here, that these are lifetime jobs,’ said Rob Godby, an economist at the University of Wyoming.”

Dionne Searcey,  Wyoming Coal Country Pivots, Reluctantly, to Wind Farms