The state has requested information from Australian regulators about alleged environmental crimes by Linc Energy. The company operates an underground coal gasification project in Australia and wants to the do the same here in Wyoming.
Underground coal gasification involves lighting deep seams of coal on fire to produce syngas, which can be captured and processed into a variety of fuels. Australian media reports didn’t give specifics on the alleged crimes, which were characterized by regulators as “high impact” and “willful”. Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality spokesman Keith Guille says that’s why the state wants more information.
“Just to look into more the nature of what the alleged violations were and certainly to find out where their investigation is at this time,” Guille says.
He couldn’t elaborate on the information would be used. Linc has already received approval for the project from the state’s Environmental Quality Council. We’ll have more on underground coal gasification on Friday’s Open Spaces.