Study says WY has opportunities to add value to energy resources

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A new report, released by several stakeholders including the Wyoming Business Council, the University of Wyoming, and the Idaho National Laboratory, says there’s potential to add value to the state’s abundant energy resources. Ideas to generate value include a carbon-conversion industry to produce synthetic transportation fuels, and diversifying power generation in the state to include more wind and nuclear energy.

Wyoming Business Council CEO Bob Jensen says the report looks at both the near and distant future.

“It’s out 30, 40, 50 years in some cases, potentially, but there are near-term opportunities, as well, such as utilizing our wind resource and our natural gas resource together to convert gas into a motor fuel or a chemical feedstock,” says Jensen. “That’s a near-term approach that people are already looking at.”

The final report was first presented to the Joint Mineral Committee Today.

Jensen says if the state accepts the recommendations in the report, they’ll have to invest in further physical and intellectual infrastructure to make the ideas possible.