Wyoming governor: Carbon capture technology can help coal

ASSOCIATED PRESS

CASPER, Wyo. – Climate change is a man-made problem, but the solution doesn’t have to come at the expense of fossil fuels, said Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon.

Gordon, who spoke Jan. 24 at the Wyoming Press Association’s banquet in Casper, said developing carbon capture technology could be the solution.

“This is a climate crisis we really need to address,” said the first-term Republican governor. “But we can only address it if we are serious about what the solutions are.”

The School of Energy Resources at the University of Wyoming has been researching carbon capture technologies that could reduce pollution from burning coal to make electricity in an effort to sustain the demand for Wyoming coal. Wyoming has passed legislation to govern carbon sequestration and have received grants to study the feasibility of carbon capture and sequestration and different ways of burning coal, Gordon said.

Wyoming is the nation’s top coal-producing state and is one of 13 states with no voluntary or mandatory renewable energy requirements for electric utilities. Just 0.34 percent of Wyoming’s energy is produced from renewable resources, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.