Governor’s Town Hall Hears about Energy Innovation

On Tuesday, July 23, Governor Mark Gordon, along with Holly Krutka, UW School of Energy; Scott Stults, superintendent at SCSD#2; Dr. Walt Tribley, President of Sheridan College; and Michelle Wilson, EMIT Technologies, held a town hall meeting at Sheridan College.

The previous stories addressed education, as well as a look at job creation with EMIT Technology. In this fifth installment, Holly Krutka talks about energy innovation.

She said that in the last 18 months the school of energy has competed for grants worth up to 85 million dollars that they are bringing into the state. Those are matched through the energy matching fund administered by Wyoming energy authority. And together we have demonstrated that Wyoming energy innovators can compete against the best and win.

She said they have had several successes; one is clean emissions.

She also talked about carbon capture, and the fact that Wyoming innovators are leading in carbon capture and storage. “Advancing carbon capture and storage is something we can do to support our coal and gas use beyond our borders, where 90% of Wyoming energy is used.”

She said they are also working on identifying new sources of rare earth and critical minerals, and they have beefed up their focus on nuclear, hydrogen and wind energy. She added that most importantly they are educating UW students to work in all these innovative industries.

She also talked about reclamation and restoration, which is important to the energy sector in Wyoming, and the partnerships that they are a part of.

At the end of the panel’s presentations, the floor was opened to questions from the audience. A large crowd was present at the event and several people expressed their appreciation and concerns.