PSC Candidate Talks Coal - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

PSC Candidate Talks Coal

A candidate for the Public Service Commission says if he's elected, he'll bring together lawmakers and other state officials to map out a future for energy development in the state.

Brad Crabtree says the state is missing out on the chance to turn carbon dioxide produced as a waste by coal power plants and gasification plants into a commodity.

Crabtree says there's already competition between Wyoming and Montana over which state should be using C-O-2 produced in a major coal gasification plant in Wyoming.

He says North Dakota should be taking steps to build pipelines for the C-O-2 that would take it to oil wells where it's injected into the ground to improve oil production.

(Brad Crabtree, PSC Candidate) "The republican governor Meade and the legislature in Wyoming are upset that Wyoming CO2 is going to Montana, which, when you think about it, is an interesting kind of debate. There's competition to have this CO2 as a commodity that you can sell and make money from."

Crabtree wants to see a state loan guarantee program set up to encourage coal facilities to upgrade to meet potential new federal regulations - and to help companies with the expense of building new clean coal technology power plants.