CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Legislative leaders from 15 states have indicated they will attend an energy symposium in Jackson this fall that Wyoming state government is sponsoring.

The states participating in the event are Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

The Energy Symposium is scheduled for October 25-27 and Wyoming is footing the bill for the meeting, including funding of travel and lodging for legislators from other Western states. The event’s original budget has been pared down by 10% to roughly $400,000,, but it appears a number of Wyoming legislators will attend the three-day meeting and several said they are are encouraged by the response from other political stakeholders from throughout the West.

“It’s just great that we’re going to have good participation from 15 states,” House Speaker Colin Simpson, Republican from Cody, told reporters last Friday.

Simpson added that he hopes the event leads to a greater understanding by every state in the region about how they can form their energy and environmental policies to be as collaborative and less competitive as possible.

“It certainly appears as though energy issues are regional issues, whether it’s transmission of gas, or electricity or oil,” Simpson said. “Many of us are on the same electrical grid. It really just makes sense to fully understand where each of us are, and what our motivations are, and what our needs are.”

One notable person who has declined an invation to speak is U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, but the Symposium is hopeful that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, will accept his invitation to attend.

The Associated Press in a story filed last week pointed out that the event has drawn some criticism from Wyoming newspapers, including a suggestion that Simpson is using the event to generate publicity to support his own political ambitions. Simpson counters by saying that he hears from constiuents tha the state needs to take a more regional approach to energy issues, including wind power development, which has been a major issue in Wyoming as new turbines dot the landscape and private landowners and state officials negotiate with developers.

Rep. Tom Lubnau, Republican of Gillette, and a member of the planning committee noted that everybody (throughout the west) is experiencing the same problem in a different kind of way. “There needs to be a forum like this where they can all get together, and approach the big problem by taking it small bits at a time.”

The states participating in the event are Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.