WY Federal & Energy Employers — Drug-Free Workplace Reality

Last verified: May 2026

F.E. Warren Air Force Base & Sentinel

F.E. Warren AFB, west of Cheyenne, hosts the 90th Missile Wing under Air Force Global Strike Command. The base operates 150 Minuteman III ICBMs distributed across Wyoming, western Nebraska, and northern Colorado, and is a principal site for the $141 billion Sentinel program replacing Minuteman III with the next-generation ICBM. Sentinel sustains a multi-decade federal-contractor employment base in the Cheyenne metro area.

Federal-employee cannabis exposure at F.E. Warren includes: active-duty Air Force personnel (UCMJ Article 112a), DOD civilians (E.O. 12564 drug-free workplace), prime contractors and subcontractors (Drug-Free Workplace Act), and security-clearance holders (SF-86 disclosure + continuous evaluation).

Energy Industry — Coal, Oil, Gas, Trona, Uranium

Powder River Basin Coal

The Powder River Basin (Campbell County around Gillette, southern Sheridan County, parts of Converse County) is the largest coal-producing region in the United States. Major operators include Peabody Energy, Arch Resources, and Eagle Specialty Materials. Powder River Basin produced approximately 43% of the nation’s coal in 2019; the share has declined with utility-scale coal retirements but remains substantial. Coal-mining drug-testing programs are uniformly zero-tolerance, with MSHA (Mine Safety and Health Administration) federal compliance overlay.

Oil & Gas

Wyoming oil-and-gas operations are concentrated in the Pinedale Anticline (Sublette County), Jonah Field (Sublette County), and various plays in Converse, Campbell, and Big Horn counties. Major operators include ExxonMobil, Anadarko (Occidental Petroleum following 2019 acquisition), Devon Energy, and EOG Resources. Service-company employers include Halliburton, Schlumberger (SLB), and various regional operators. Drug-free-workplace policies are uniform across the industry.

Trona / Soda Ash — Sweetwater County

Sweetwater County (Rock Springs / Green River) hosts the world’s largest natural-trona deposits. Tata Chemicals, Genesis Alkali (Genesis Energy), and Solvay operate trona mines and soda-ash production facilities supplying most of the world’s natural soda ash. Drug-free-workplace policies are uniform.

Uranium

Wyoming hosts active uranium-mining operations under in-situ recovery (ISR) regulatory framework. Operators include Energy Fuels, Ur-Energy, and Cameco. NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) federal regulatory overlay produces strict drug-free-workplace requirements.

Healthcare Systems

Wyoming Medical Center / Banner Wyoming

Wyoming Medical Center (Casper), recently rebranded under Banner Health, is the largest healthcare provider in central Wyoming. Federally-funded research and Medicare/Medicaid grant overlay produce drug-free-workplace requirements.

Cheyenne Regional Medical Center

Cheyenne Regional Medical Center serves the Cheyenne metro area and southeast Wyoming. Federal-grant overlay applies.

St. John’s Health (Jackson)

St. John’s Health is the principal Teton County healthcare provider. Federal-grant overlay applies despite the county’s progressive political profile.

SageWest Health Care

SageWest Health Care operates facilities in Lander and Riverton serving Fremont County and the Wind River Reservation region. Federal-grant overlay applies.

University of Wyoming

The University of Wyoming (Laramie) enrolls approximately 11,000–12,000 students. As a federally-funded institution, UW operates federal-aligned drug-free policies under the Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act. Student housing, NCAA athletics (Mountain West Conference), federal-research-funded laboratories, and federal-grant-recipient employees all enforce cannabis prohibition.

Transportation — BNSF, Union Pacific, Trucking

BNSF and Union Pacific maintain extensive Wyoming operations along the I-80 (UP) and I-25/Powder River Basin (BNSF) corridors. FRA (Federal Railroad Administration) drug-testing requirements under 49 CFR Part 219 apply to safety-sensitive railroad employees. Commercial trucking operations across Wyoming are subject to FMCSA (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration) drug-testing requirements under 49 CFR Part 382.

Tourism & Hospitality

Tourism in Jackson Hole, Yellowstone gateway communities (Cody, Jackson, the East Yellowstone region), and Snow King ski resort represents a meaningful hospitality employment base. Hospitality-industry drug-testing is generally less rigid than oil/gas/healthcare, but federal-public-land overlay (NPS, USFS, BLM concession contractors) produces drug-free-workplace requirements at park-concessionaire and federal-land-permitted operations.

Federal-Land Employer Overlay

Approximately 48% of Wyoming is federal land, administered principally by:

• U.S. Forest Service (Bridger-Teton, Shoshone, Bighorn, Medicine Bow-Routt national forests).
• Bureau of Land Management (extensive Wyoming holdings, particularly central and southwestern WY).
• National Park Service (Yellowstone NP, Grand Teton NP, Devils Tower NM, Fort Laramie NHS, Fossil Butte NM).
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (National Elk Refuge near Jackson, others).

Federal-land employees and federal-permitted concessionaires operate drug-free-workplace policies. Cannabis possession on federal land is a federal misdemeanor regardless of state law.

Drug-Free-Workplace Reality Summary

Combining federal employers, energy-industry employers, federal-grant-recipient healthcare and education, federal-regulated transportation, and federal-land-overlay hospitality, the share of Wyoming employment subject to drug-free-workplace requirements is among the highest in the U.S. The structural reality means that even if Wyoming someday legalizes adult-use cannabis at the state level, federal-aligned drug-testing regimes would persist for the majority of WY employees.

Related on this site: WY Workplace Cannabis Protections, Send a Message, Contact CannabisWyoming.org.