COAL PRODUCTIONBarrasso gets changes to climate change bill
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CHEYENNE, Wyo. (The Associated Press) - Nov 2 - By MEAD GRUVER Associated Press Writer
Sen. John Barrasso won an amendment to a climate change bill Thursday that could result in incentives that could benefit Wyoming's coal industry.
The bill brought by Sens. John Warner, R-Va., and Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., would seek a 70 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, cars and trucks.
Barrasso, R-Wyo., voted against the bill but it cleared the committee 4-3.
Barrasso said he wanted to ensure that the bill wouldn't harm Wyoming's coal industry.
"Our state is the nation's top source for energy, and more specifically energy derived from coal. I will continue to fight to make sure Wyoming jobs and communities are protected from any negative impacts this bill would have on our economic future," he said in a statement.
Barrasso spokesman Cameron Hardy said the senator felt encouraged after the meeting of the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Global Warming. Hardy said both Lieberman and Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., spoke in favor of cleaner coal technology.
"There is at least an understanding there that coal is going to part of the future," Hardy said. "That's not something that everyone on the Democrats' side can agree on."
One Barrasso amendment would enable utilities that use cooler-burning coal to qualify for incentives for trapping carbon dioxide, the gas blamed for global warming, at smokestacks. Barrasso's amendment would make clear that utilities that burn Wyoming coal could qualify, even though it doesn't burn as hot as Eastern coal.
Barrasso also got an amendment to increase the amount of money states receive to offset any economic effects of fighting global warming.
The committee didn't adopt other Barrasso amendments, including a plan to put a national coal research center at the University of Wyoming. Barrasso said he would keep seeking the research center before the full Environment and Public Works Committee.
"When oil is between $90 and $100 a barrel, it is abundantly clear that we need strategic focus on domestic energy sources," Barrasso said. "Clean coal technologies are the future of a safe, reliable domestic energy source for this nation. Foreign energy sources are unstable."