Above: Sharon Buccino
We caught up with Sharon to dive into her background, get a sense of her hopes as the director of an organization with more than half-a-century of history, and her perspective on the role of community organizing in Wyoming during these divisive times.
In February, 2025, Powder River Basin Resource Council welcomed Sharon Buccino as its new executive director. Sharon comes to the WORC network with decades of environmental law experience and a long history of working with Powder River on some of Wyoming’s most pressing issues. She began working with members on the coalbed methane boom in the early 2000s. More recently, as head of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, she helped distribute billions in funding to coalfield communities for reclamation and repurposing of abandoned mine lands. Continue reading for WORC’s interview with Sharon. You can also learn more about her at Powder River’s website.
Where did you grow up?
Raised by Italian American parents, I grew up in Lakeland, Florida. It was a smallish town in central Florida with orange groves, cattle, and phosphate mining.
What inspired you to go into environmental law and environmental work?
The awe and grandeur of the Sierra Nevada mountains and the California coast drew me into environmental law. I went to law school after having worked in Washington, DC, for an inspiring public servant – Lawton Chiles – from my hometown who served as a U.S. Senator from Florida. In Senator Chiles, I witnessed the good that good leaders in government can do.
As a young woman graduating from college in the 1980s, I felt that people in DC would be more likely to listen to me with a law degree. That turned out to be true. I’d never been to a place like Yosemite until I had the chance to attend Stanford Law School. Standing on top of Half Dome, I realized the power of place in people’s lives.
What drew you to the Powder River Basin Resource Council?
While place first drew me to environmental work, it is people who have kept me in it. Both the people whom I can help through environmental work as well as the people with whom I get to work.
I first connected with Powder River in 2000 as a young attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council. Amid gloom triggered by the “drill, baby, drill” agenda of the Bush/Cheney White House, I had joined Powder River’s effort to fight coalbed methane drilling and the impacts it had on ranchers and farmers in Wyoming.
I would continue to work on public land management for NRDC for 30 years, but came to believe that work directly in-community, translating federal policy into positive results in people’s daily lives, was what mattered most.
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You had a prominent government role at OSMRE. How does that experience affect your new role at Powder River?
When I came to Wyoming in January 2020, I thought that I had left DC for good. The Bi-partisan Infrastructure law drew me back. Leading the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement at the Interior Department gave me the chance to deliver millions to coal communities to reclaim and repurpose mine lands for future prosperity.
The experience reenforced my belief that good government can deliver good in people’s lives. This is true in Wyoming as much as anywhere. Powder River can help illustrate the good that government can do and empower citizens to demand it.
What do you see as Powder River’s role in Wyoming communities?
Powder River can facilitate conversation and strengthen community connections. It can educate and empower citizens to help create communities in which all can thrive – communities that live with nature rather than against it.
What do you see as the role of community organizing in Wyoming?
Community organizing can offer an alternative to our current polarized, divisive, and unstable existence. It can help people feel heard and empowered. It can identify and develop local leaders to articulate the values of democracy and fight to preserve it.
What are you most excited about in your new position at Powder River?
Bringing new people into the organization. Identifying and supporting new local leaders to fight for Wyoming’s land, water, air and people.
What opportunities do you see for PRBRC and how do you see the organization evolving over the next five to ten years?
Powder River can offer an alternative to increasingly polarized partisan politics. It can help build a strong middle in support of public land protection and public participation in government decision-making. It can unify rather than alienate.
Learn more:
Solar Installers and Grassroots Organizers Move Clean Energy Forward in Wyoming
How Good State Policy Helps Wyoming Local Foods Thrive
Don’t let troubled companies leave Wyoming on the hook for coal mine cleanup
Yes, I want to help WORC elevate Western voices and hold decision-makers accountable!