Coal industry all fired up over next generation uses

With its huge reserves of low-sulfur coal, Wyoming’s coal industry has developed the most productive mines in the world and produces more coal for traditional electric power plants than any other state in the nation.

Its next step will be to capitalize on the next generation of uses for coal, from “zero-emission” coal-fired power plants to new plants that convert coal into gas, diesel fuel or hydrogen.

The federal Energy Policy Act of 2005 designates up to $200 million a year in financial aid for developers of a pilot plant using integrated gasification combined cycle, or IGCC, technology at altitudes greater than…