BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. - Kennecott Energy Co. plans to cut its Wyoming coal mine pollution by 8 percent over five years, the company's president and chief executive said Tuesday.

"The public is demanding it, so let's get on top of it," Bret Clayton of Gillette said during a panel discussion on the last day of a three-day conference of the Western Governors' Association in this mountain resort town.

Kennecott owns three coal mines in northeast Wyoming, two in southeast Montana and one in northern Colorado.

Kennecott Energy believes emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants are contributing to global warming, Clayton said.

"We know it's not a popular position across the industry," Clayton said afterward.

Meanwhile, U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman told the Western governors that their region's rich coal, oil and gas reserves make it crucial to the nation's future, and he urged passage of the Bush administration's energy bill.

"The states you represent are home to many of our nation's most vital energy resources," Bodman said. His department spends about $15 billion a year, or 62 percent of its budget, in the West.

Bodman said passing the energy bill is crucial to reducing U.S. reliance on foreign energy.

President Bush's energy measure stalled in Congress last year, but after Republican gains in the 2004 election, the bill has passed the House and is being debated in the Senate.

Bodman said the bill would shore up the nation's electrical grid and expand output from solar, wind and other renewable power sources.

Separately, the governors unanimously approved a resolution calling for private industry and state, local and federal officials to develop coal-bed methane in an efficient and environmentally sound manner. Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal and Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman sponsored the resolution.

"Coal-bed methane is, and can continue to be, an incredibly important source of energy for the country," Freudenthal said. "That's exactly why we need to proceed carefully and with a sense of balance, at least in part to ensure that CBM development can continue efficiently into the future."

The governors agreed that conflicts among surface owners, local communities, industry and mineral owners should be resolved, whenever possible, through the good-faith efforts of all involved.

The governors agreed that states, the federal government and industry should create, fund and maintain a regional database to support improvements in coal-bed methane development. Governors agreed that the CBM Clearinghouse maintained by the University of Wyoming should be a model for the effort.

Also Tuesday, Alberta Premier Ralph Klein, one of three Canadian provincial heads attending the meeting, touted the benefits of clean-coal technology. Klein opposes his country's adoption of the Kyoto Protocol on reducing pollution that most scientists believe is causing global warming. He said clean-coal technology should be recognized in the international pact.

The United States hasn't signed the Kyoto accord.

Klein asked Bodman if the Energy Department is interested in teaming up with Western Canadian provinces on such projects as clean-coal plants.

"I would be very happy to explore that," Bodman said.