Governor Mead announced that the so-called Integrated Test Center will be built at the Dry Fork Station, a coal-fired powerplant near Gillette. The state has pledged $15 million dollars in funding for the lab. Another $5 million will come from the Denver-based power company Tri-State Generation. The goal is to develop new technology to turn carbon dioxide into useful products, instead of releasing it into the atmosphere.

The first tenant will be the XPRIZE foundation, a privately funded group which recently announced a $20 million dollar competition to develop new carbon technologies. Wyoming Governor Matt Mead says the lab will be used to test that tech.

“I can’t wait to see what great minds come up with to re-imagine CO2," Mead said. "I believe the innovations will be breathtaking and make a profound difference in the future of coal.”

The test center is one of the ways Wyoming is looking to shore up its struggling coal industry.