TETON VILLAGE -- There is time to deploy "clean coal" technologies before federal regulation to limit carbon dioxide emissions results in decreased coal production -- a pillar of Wyoming's mineral-based economy, an official with GE Energy said Tuesday.

However, if Congress fails to enact some policy that applies a monetary value to CO2, then Wyoming's coal industry could take a hit, according to Monte Atwell, general manager of GE Energy's gasification group.

"If you say, 'I can't emit CO2,' or 'I'm going to regulate how much you can emit over a time period,' then it inherently has to have some value to drive the technologies required to allow that to happen," Atwell said during an interview at the Western States Energy and Environment Symposium.

Atwell is responsible for developing integrated gasification combined cycle and other forms of "cleaner coal" technologies for GE. He was one of the speakers at the symposium, which wrapped up Tuesday.

Wyoming leaders have voiced opposition to a cap-and-trade approach to curbing carbon dioxide emissions. Under a bill being considered by the U.S. Senate, the government would limit CO2 and other heat-trapping pollution from factories, refineries and power plants, then distribute pollution allowances that could be bought and sold, depending on whether a facility exceeds the cap or makes greater pollution cuts than are required.

There needs to be a monetary value applied to CO2 in order to drive the technologies that will keep coal in the nation's energy mix, Atwell said.

"If we don't do that, then we're going to continue to have the discussion and debate to a point where it's a lot harder and a lot more expensive to get done," he said.

Atwell said technology firms are eager for Congress to set the rules for carbon emissions. Although cleaner coal technologies will cost more than the current coal utility market in which carbon emissions are externalized, he's confident the cost will not be astronomical.

"We will drive down the cost," Atwell said.

Right now, the United States represents the most robust domestic energy market on the globe. Unlike several developing nations, the U.S. is equipped with the intellectual property rights that allow business to monetize its products and services.

But what the nation currently lacks, Atwell said, is the market demand for those technologies. For example, the cap-and-trade bill passed by the U.S. House had a target to derive 6 percent of its electricity from renewable resources -- wind, solar, geothermal -- by 2012.

But the nation's already at 6 percent renewables, which means the demand for wind and solar manufacturing, construction and electrical generation would dry up.

"Without a market, you lose all that," Atwell said in his address to symposium attendees.

The Chinese government is currently pushing seven clean-coal plants of 800 megawatts each.

"They are going to learn how to do this before we (the United States) do," Atwell said.

He said the amount of money that the U.S. allocates to research and development on energy pales in comparison to the amount spent on space, defense and health.

"Other countries take their energy issues more seriously than we do," Atwell said.

Contact energy reporter Dustin Bleizeffer at 307-577-6069 or dustin.bleizeffer@trib.com. Read his energy blog at tribtown.trib.com/post/DustinBleizeffer/blog