Cheyenne Mayor Rick Kaysen says that while it's impossible right now to gauge what impact the loss of up to $135 Million annually in federal Abandoned Mine Lands Funding to Wyoming would have on the city of Cheyenne, it's safe to say that it could be ''a very significant impact." Wyoming has in recent years received around  $150 Million annually from the AML fund, which was originally designed to provide money to clean up the environmental impacts of mining, but which has been used to fund a variety of projects in Wyoming. There has been a move in congress to cap payments to any state at $15 Million dollars annually, or a cut of up to $135Million to Wyoming each year. Kaysen says that while there is no way to directly calculate what that might mean for Cheyenne, it's clear there would be a 'trickle down" effect because less money to the state would in turn mean less state money for local governments across Wyoming. Wyoming's congressional delegation has vowed to fight against the $15 Million dollar cap.

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