carbon capture utilization and storage

Once again, lawmakers disagreed on how to “save” coal, failing to move forward a draft bill that would have repealed current state law.

One effort to put lawmakers in the driver's seat of approving large energy projects has died, but another similar effort trudges forward.

A bill up for consideration in the Wyoming state House seeks to “make carbon dioxide great again.” While the intention is to support the coal industry and put Wyoming in the driver’s seat of regulations, it could do the opposite.

The University of Wyoming will receive almost $5 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to continue studying carbon capture and storage – a developing industry that hopes to reduce carbon emissions from coal plants or possibly even remove harmful gasses from the atmosphere.

Now that the legislative session is over, lawmakers are meeting periodically to discuss what issues they need to address next session. A growing theme is the coal industry’s hardships, with big asks from the industry itself and grim updates from utilities that currently depend on the energy source.

Several bills that made it out of the session attempt to protect Wyomingites from the rising costs of electricity.

Funding for Wyoming’s energy and climate research just got a little more uncertain.The Wyoming Senate passed an amendment to its budget bill that would strip a matching funds program, with purview from the Wyoming Energy Authority (WEA) and Governor Mark Gordon, of almost $400 million.

Wyoming lawmakers are hoping to clarify permitting and rulemaking around an up and coming energy industry — carbon capture and sequestration.

A group of about 30 people in suits walked toward the Dry Fork coal plant last week, just north of Gillette. A loud hum of machinery echoed in the background.

Wyoming continues to eye carbon capture as a way to meet climate goals and preserve its fossil fuel industry, and a new research project dealing with that is underway.