The Voice of the Community Since 1909, Serving Moorcroft and Pine Haven, Wyoming
The Voice of the Community Since 1909, Serving Moorcroft and Pine Haven, Wyoming
GILLETTE — Compared to the large metropolitan areas found in and around Washington, D.C., Gillette is a pretty small fish. But there’s nothing small-time about carbon research happening here.
That was one of the observations of a top U.S. Department of Energy official when he toured the Dry Fork Station power plant, the connected Integrated Test Center and the nearby CarbonSAFE test well site Wednesday afternoon.
“They have just a fantastic setup to test [carbon capture] technology,” said Steven Winberg, assistant secretary of fossil energy at the DOE. “Coal is not going to go away anytime soon, but what we need to work on is the next generation of coal-fired power plants.”
Despite a trend over the past few years to retire older coal-fired plants and with no new ones planned anytime soon, Winberg said he’s confident there will be another level of coal-generated electricity. The research happening at the ITC and Dry Fork Station is critical to helping make that happen, he said.
He also touted a new federal initiative called Coal FIRST (flexible, innovative, resilient, small and transformative). His office and the DOE are funding research to develop ways to not only reduce carbon dioxide emissions from coal plants, but to develop generation technology that has no emissions.
“If we’re going to have an ‘all-of-the-above’ energy strategy in the United States, how do we continue to use coal and use it in a way that’s zero emission?” Winberg said. “We’re marching forward [toward that goal] as aggressively as we can.”
He said he hopes the United States will be in a position to demonstrate that technology in another five to six years. He also offered some encouragement to the coal mine workers of the Powder River Basin who have been shaken by recent bankruptcies, reduced production and overall industry insecurity.
“We are not on our last generation of anything,” Winberg said. “With American ingenuity and our ability to innovate, we can continue to use all of the natural resources we have.”
The assistant secretary’s enthusiasm for the American work ethic was echoed by U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyoming, a longtime Gillette resident. He accompanied Winberg on his tour Wednesday.
The work being done in Wyoming and Campbell County is getting the attention of high-level federal officials and is putting the Cowboy State near the top of the carbon research discussion, Enzi said.
“Today is really special, because it’s really nice to have somebody who is knowledgeable about power plants to an extreme degree come here,” he said, referring to Winberg’s expertise in the energy industry.
Before his federal appointment, Winberg spent nearly 40 years working in the energy industry, including as an engineer working on coal-fired utility boilers.
