‘Future of Coal’ Conference with Japan Happening in Gillette

Wyoming government, industry and academic leaders will welcome Japanese energy officials for a conference on the future of coal Sept. 21-22 in Gillette.

Organized by the University of Wyoming’s School of Energy Resources at the CAM-PLEX Wyoming Center Equality Hall, the “Wyoming/JCOAL Workshop: The Future of Coal” is a result of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed by Gov. Matt Mead and the president of Japan Coal Energy Center (JCOAL) in July 2016.

​Topics scheduled for discussion are areas of potential collaboration, knowledge sharing and partnership between Wyoming and JCOAL in the areas of coal trade and exports; economic development; clean-coal solutions; and carbon capture, utilization and storage.

The two days of panel discussions and other presentations begin at 8:30 a.m. each day. The opening session will include a welcome and remarks by Mead and by Osamu Tsukamoto, president of JCOAL.

More details of the workshop, including a draft agenda, may be viewed at the University of Wyoming website.

JCOAL operates under the supervision of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, and is supported by more than 120 member coal-related businesses, including Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd., Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, Nippon Steel and Toshiba.
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The MOU covers technical cooperation, research and development, communication and information exchange, and facilitating coal exports and sales. The university, the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority and the Wyoming Business Council are the primary agencies working with JCOAL.