Wyoming leaders ponder energy boom

Mark Northam, the new director of the University of Wyoming’s School of Energy Resources, stepped off the plane from Saudi Arabia just a week ago.

But on Friday, he was already getting a crash course in energy issues in Wyoming at a roundtable discussion that included leaders from environmental groups, oil companies, business and tribal councils, and cities affected by the energy boom.
Northam left a job as a research science consultant with Saudi Aramco after a decades-long career in the oil industry to come to Wyoming and lead its newest school.

Among the top priorities he identified for the new school he’ll lead was finding ways to break the cycle of boom and bust in Wyoming.

“My biggest fear is we’ll squander the opportunity this period of prosperity has provided for us,” he said. “We can’t lose sight of the fact this period of prosperity is temporary. We need to learn from the past. What did we do wrong that allowed prosperity to slip away from us?”

Wyoming Tribune-Eagle