This example is for a 640 acre property leased at $12,160, which the oil company claims was an artificially inflated price because a conservation group was bidding.
That seems like a ludicrously small dollar figure. My guess that that the state is leasing the land cheaply, then making up for that with severance taxes on the extracted fossil fuels and minerals. Conservation groups would not generate those severance taxes.
To be clear I'm not giving them a pass. They are choosing to damage the environment and accelerate climate change in order to be a tax haven for the ultra-wealthy. They could absolutely find another more sustainable way to find the government if they wanted, and deserve to be criticized for the choices they've made.
Wyoming re-wrote it's tax code over a decade ago so that all power generation in the State is taxed. It's been busy since then expanding transmission lines and smacking down anyone who tries to stop the build out of green power. So yeah, it has been working on environmentally sustainable ways to fund the Government.
Wyoming today has the highest CO2 per capita production
Sounds like that's largely because they are the top coal producing state (40% of US coal). In 2023, 71% of power generation was from coal. 23% was from renewables, with about 90% of that coming from wind. But yeah, coal's just going to produce a lot more CO2, even compared to other fossil fuels.
You might be surprised: Hunting in the US alone generates 12 BILLION dollars a year in taxes alone (not including any other outdoor activity, license fees, or related revenue).
Public parks generate over 200 billion all by themselves every year, these are only parts of the equation too.
The more you look into it, the more you realize that, holy shit, this stuff generates a fuckton of revenue for the government (never mind all the other benefits it has).
Even if nobody gave a single fuck about the environment or humanity's future, the financial benefits alone are a very compelling argument (unless, you know, these aspects are ignored because politicians are in the pockets of oil companies)