No veto override of Wyoming infrastructure protest bill

The Wyoming Legislature has failed to override Gov. Matt Mead’s veto of a bill that could have brought tougher penalties against protesters at facilities such as oil pipelines.

Mead said in a veto message Wednesday the bill tried to address an important issue but was imprecisely crafted.

Two-thirds of both the Wyoming House and Senate needed to vote to override the veto. Instead, only one-third of the 60 members of the Wyoming House voted to override Thursday, meaning the bill won’t become law.

Supporters said the bill wouldn’t have blocked peaceful protests but opponents worried it was possible. The tougher penalties were for trespassing on, impeding or damaging facilities including pipelines, power plants, telecommunications towers, dams, data centers and refineries.

Any group behind such acts could have been fined $100,000.