§ 35-12-102 — Definitions

(a) As used in this chapter:
(i) "Advisory member" means an advisory member of the
council provided by W.S. 35-12-104(f);
(ii) "Applicant" means any person who applies for a
permit pursuant to this chapter;
(iii) "Commence to construct" means:
(A) Any clearing of land, excavation,
construction or other action that would affect the environment
of the site of any facility, but does not include changes needed
for temporary use of sites for less than ninety (90) days,
changes required to conduct required studies and tests under
this chapter, or any other state or federal act or regulation,
or access roads and services associated with utilities, or
routes for nonutility purposes or for uses in securing
geological data but not limited to necessary borings or
drillings to ascertain foundation conditions;
(B) The nuclear fracturing of underground
formation, if any such activity is related to the possible
future development of a facility subject to this chapter, but
does not include the gathering of geological data by boring of
test holes or other underground exploration, investigation or
experimentation.
(iv) "Council" means the industrial siting council;
(v) "Director" means the director of the department
of environmental quality;
(vi) "Impacted area" means an area of Wyoming in
which sudden or prolonged population growth may occur or may
cause environmental, social or economic stresses of such nature
that the total local, state and federal resources available are
not sufficient to alleviate them properly and effectively as
determined by the council;
(vii) "Industrial facility" or "facility" means any
industrial facility with an estimated construction cost of at
least ninety-six million nine hundred thousand dollars
($96,900,000.00) as of May 30, 1987. Exempt activities shall not
be included in the estimated construction cost of an industrial
facility. The council shall adjust this amount, up or down,
each year using recognized construction cost indices as the
council determines to be relevant to the actual change in
construction cost applicable to the general type of construction
covered under this chapter. "Facility" also includes,
regardless of construction cost:
(A) Any commercial waste incineration or
disposal facility capable of receiving greater than five hundred
(500) short tons per day of household refuse or mixed household
and industrial refuse, excluding lands and facilities subject to
W.S. 35-11-402(a)(xiii);
(B) Any commercial facility which incinerates or
disposes of any regulated quantity of hazardous wastes which are
subject to hazardous waste shipping manifest requirements under
subtitle C of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (42
U.S.C. §§ 6921 through 6939e);
(C) Any commercial radioactive waste management
facility defined by W.S. 35-11-103(d)(v);
(D) Until July 1, 1999, any facility constructed
solely for the disposal of overburden, development waste rock or
refuse from mining as defined under W.S. 35-11-103, except for
the following facilities:
(I) Facilities permitted or licensed under
article 4 of the Wyoming Environmental Quality Act;
(II) Facilities specifically exempt from
permitting requirements under article 4 of the Wyoming
Environmental Quality Act;
(III) Facilities specifically identified
under W.S. 35-11-103(d)(v)(A).
(E) Any commercial facility generating
electricity from wind and associated collector systems that:
(I) Consists of twenty (20) or more wind
turbines in all planned phases of the installation; or
(II) Expand an existing installation not
previously defined as a facility to include a total number of
turbines greater than or equal to the thresholds in subdivision
(a)(vii)(E)(I) of this section.
(F) Any facility over which a board of county
commissioners has authority to issue the permit required by W.S.
18-5-502 and which facility the board of county commissioners
has referred to the council under W.S. 18-5-509;
(G) Any commercial facility generating
electricity from solar power and associated solar collector
systems if the facility:
(I) Has a rated power capacity of more than
thirty (30) megawatts;
(II) Would result in a surface disturbance
equal to or greater than one hundred (100) acres; or
(III) Is expanded to where the facility
would satisfy subdivision (I) or (II) of this subparagraph.
(H) Any facility that would meet the definition
of subparagraphs (E) or (G) of this paragraph but is planned for
construction and siting or has its ownership or business
structure organized in a way to circumvent the definition of
"industrial facility" or "facility" or the requirements of this
chapter while engaging in conduct that otherwise would be
subject to the requirements of this article. A facility that
meets the definition of this chapter shall comply with all
requirements applicable to facilities defined by subparagraphs
(E) and (G) of this paragraph.
(viii) "Local government" means any county, city,
town or school district or any combination thereof as formed
under the Wyoming Joint Powers Act;
(ix) Repealed by Laws 1992, ch. 60, § 4.
(x) "Permit" means the permit issued by the council
and required for the construction or operation of any industrial
facility or facilities;
(xi) "Person" includes an individual, group, firm,
partnership, corporation, cooperative, association, or other
entity excluding the state, federal government and local
government. "Person" also includes the parent company,
partnership or holding entity for a commercial facility
generating electricity from wind or solar;
(xii) "Administrator" means the administrator of the
division;
(xiii) "Division" means the industrial siting
division of the department of environmental quality;
(xiv) "Collector system" means the electrical
transmission infrastructure, including conductors, towers,
substations, switchgear and other components necessary to
deliver power from any commercial facility generating
electricity from wind or solar up to, but not including,
electric substations or similar facilities necessary to
interconnect to existing or proposed transmission lines that
serve load or export energy from Wyoming;
(xv) "Affected landowner" means any person holding
record title to land on which any portion of a commercial
facility generating electricity from wind or solar is proposed
to be constructed and including any portion of any collector
system located on those same lands. For purposes of this
chapter, an affected landowner may be represented by any
designated person;
(xvi) "Tribal government" means the tribal government
of the Eastern Shoshone tribe, the tribal government of the
Northern Arapaho tribe of the Wind River Indian Reservation and
the cooperative tribal governing body.