Governor Matt Mead said that Wyoming can diversify its economy through technology and that the energy industry will bounce back.
During a speech to kick off his annual business forum on Tuesday, Mead said that technology was poised to be Wyoming’s fourth leading industry. He discussed the enhancement of high-speed internet throughout the state and a number of other advances the state has made to attract technology-based business.
Mead said such work is important to the state’s future and it goes beyond economics.
“Is that these young people that leave our state, we want to give them every single opportunity to say yes to Wyoming as possible. We want to say you don’t to be in the oil business, you don’t have to be a rancher, you don’t have to be in tourism, you don’t necessarily have to be in banking, you don’t have to be in retail. We’re giving as big a field of options as possible for you to say yes to our state.”
Mead also said that the state’s energy industry will survive the current economic downturn. The governor said the integrated test center being built in Wyoming will be a game changer for the coal industry.
“Cause we are going to change the paradigm in terms of, coal has got this emissions and its bad, we are going to change that into, coal has these emissions and its good. And what we’re gonna do is look at this slip stream off of a coal-fired plant, we are going to bring in scientists from around the world to say rather than looking at it as a liability, let’s turn it into an asset.”
Mead said Wyoming has only focused on exporting energy, he wants the focus to be on developing something from it. He added that it isn’t a pipe dream.
