Governor Matt Mead said in a press conference at the State Capitol building in Cheyenne that any future federal rules had to allow for both the erection and operation of state-of-the-art coal-fired power plants.
“When you think, for example, about what coal means for this country … roughly 40 per cent of the electricity produced in this country is by coal,” Mead told a large group of media outlets including the Associated Press.
“To shut off coal, or to say you can't have further coal development, I think is the wrong way to go.”
Obama, who presented his CAP proposal in a 31-page blueprint followed by an address that afternoon, said he had directed the Environmental Protection Agency to develop standard to reduce power plant emissions.
That work starts immediately, as the President has set some tight deadlines.
The commander-in-chief said in his confirmation of the proposal that human activities, carbon emissions in particular, were at the core of global climate change.
“Right now, there are no federal limits to the amount of carbon pollution that those plants can pump into our air,” Obama said.
However, what is coming under CAP promises to hit the industry hard, and the disruptions in coal’s role will have a significant impact on coal-rich Wyoming.
Mead noted the state collected $290 million from coal taxes during the 2012 fiscal year, and, with the state’s place as the heart of the Powder River Basin, the coal industry was a major employer.
He has taken those figures to heart, and recently returned from a Canadian trip with energy officials to examine the potential of exporting more of the region’s coal to Asia.
Mead cited Obama’s previous statement that the US must tap all of its energy resources, and he said lawmakers from his state had been supportive of carbon emission technology.
“I think that holds promise for the coal industry,” he said.
“As you know, Wyoming led the way in terms of laws on carbon capture and carbon sequestration."
Mead also recently unveiled an energy policy for his state that emphasized both development of energy and environmental protection because both were vital to the future.
“In terms of energy sectors, we need coal; we need oil; we need gas; we need uranium,” he said.
“And we need to have rules and regulations that allow those companies to stay in business.”
Mead told the media conference that his formal position on CAP would hinge largely on what the EPA eventually proposed, and said he would oppose any outlines that did not allow the construction and operation of coal-fired facilities with cutting-edge pollution control technology.
