Governor Mead on Coal and CO2 Emissions

As Senator Barrasso's Carbon Capture bills continue to progress through Washington with bipartisan support, Governor Matt Mead continues to emphasize how important the coal industry is to Wyoming.

"We have product that the world wants," Governor Matt Mead said. "In order to sell to the countries I've traveled to, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, you have to look at innovation technology because those are great consumers of energy. And they want to look at Powder River Coal, but in order to do that they are concerned with what we are doing with CO2 and innovations."

The bill aims to support capturing carbon dioxide to use in other products and give the Environmental Protection Agency authority to control permitting of pipelines that carry carbon dioxide. It would also require task forces to communicate with carbon capture researchers.

The bill passed the U.S. Senate Environmental Public Works Committee and will now need to pass the rest of the Senate before being brought forward in the U.S. House of Representatives.