CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — Carbon County commissioners are taking issue with a local critic of a proposed coal-to-gasoline plant.

David Throgmorton is director of the local higher education center who has written newspaper columns critical of the DKRW Advanced Fuels plant.

The commissioners wrote to the Board of Cooperative Higher Education Services, which oversees the center, that Throgmorton's actions are degrading and damaging to the center's reputation.

The letter from the three commissioners says Throgmorton's actions are damaging to an important project for Carbon County and the state.

But board members are publicly standing by the director's right to question the project as a private citizen.

Throgmorton tells the Associated Press that the commissioners appear to be trying to discredit him and get him fired.

More From K2 Radio