“Gillette on the Precipice”

(in progress)

Gillette, Wyoming has a decision to make; gamble and reinvest in coal mining, or spend its mineral tax revenue on diversifying its economy for the future. Local residents are fed up with the on-again-off relationship between national politics and the mining industry which upends their economic stability and daily lives every four years. In 2024, The Bureau of Land Management set a moratorium on new federal coal leasing in the Powder River Basin, effectively setting a 2041, end date for Gillette’s staple industry. In April, through an executive order, the Trump administration reversed the BLM policy. Gillette will likely reinvest in coal mining, potentially dooming the long-term economic future of its residents.

These are images from an ongoing documentary project photographed throughout the summer of 2024. They, along with many other photographs not shown here, are being edited and sequenced into a book. I am applying for grant funding to continue photographing this story.