Wyoming officials look at ways to rescue coal

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Wyoming officials look at ways to rescue coal

By Mead Gruver / The Associated Press

Published Jan 19, 2016 at 12:03 AM

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Public enemy No. 1 for climate change and no longer the fossil fuel utilities prefer to burn to generate electricity, coal has few allies these days. But one state is still fighting to save the industry: Wyoming.
....

The stakes for Wyoming are high. Coal mining and directly related business account for 14 percent of the economy and 1 in 5 jobs in the state, according to the university’s Center for Energy Economics. ... Here’s a look at what Wyoming has done — often at public expense — to try to save coal:

Underground coal gasification

Wyoming regulators recently agreed to let an Australian company pollute groundwater to experiment with a use for coal that doesn’t involve burning it in a power plant. ... Underground coal gasification involves partially burning coal still in the ground. The process yields a mix of gases called syngas, which can be burned more cleanly than coal directly. ... An Australian company, Linc Energy, has proposed a demonstration plant in the Powder River Basin, an arid coal-mining region in northeast Wyoming and southeast Montana that supplies about 40 percent of the nation’s coal.

The process leaves a chemical brew in the ground. Regulators in Queensland, Australia, accuse Linc of causing serious environmental harm at underground coal gasification projects there. Wyoming and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency agreed to let the Wyoming project proceed even if it contaminated groundwater. But low natural gas prices appear to have stalled the project. Linc officials didn’t return a message seeking comment.

[Wellstone ruled]

1. Coal Gasification humm.

Did not the Energy Department do that in Bhula North Dakota in 1978? And we know how that was messed up.

[comradebillyboy]

2. How to rescue coal when oil is below $30 per barrel

and natural gas is abundant, cheaper and cleaner? Maybe they can export it to China or India.

[gejohnston]

3. that's what happens when you put all of your eggs in one basket

a lot of our revenue depends on the export taxes on resources, including coal. Then there are the jobs etc. We need people in Cheyenne willing to open their minds to other types of revenue.
The subtext is that we need green energy that is cheaper than that nasty shit.

[NotHardly]

4. There aren't really that many EGGS in Wyoming ...

See... http://www.netstate.com/economy/wy_economy.htm

Wyoming = • Rank: #1 as tax environment for business
• Income tax: None
• Corporate tax: None
• Sales tax: Low
and NO personal income tax....

Of course, if they eat the issue of coal and such, the above may all change.

[gejohnston]

5. sales tax and

severance taxes. 25 percent of our budget is from severance taxes. If it comes out of the ground and leaves the state, we tax it.