For more than 30 years, Wyoming leaders have professed the importance of adding value to the state’s mineral resources rather than simply exporting raw products — particularly coal. Companies have floated dozens of proposal for coal briquettes, coal-gasification for electrical export and coal-to-liquid fuels.
The closest any have come to fruition (save for a few fits and starts in coal briquetting) is DKRW Advanced Fuels LLC’s Medicine Bow coal-to-gasoline plant, which began its first phase of construction last fall, according to the Rawlins Daily Times.