High-level DOE official tours Gillette power plant, test center

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 soo...