CHEYENNE - An industry official says a public-private effort to research cleaner ways of using Wyoming coal could be key in addressing the energy needs of the West.

Wyoming is teaming up with General Electric Co. to build a $100 million coal gasification research plant in Cheyenne. The plant is scheduled to be operating in 2012.

Jim Childress of the Gasification Technologies Council in Arlington, Va., says the facility stands to open the state's large coal resources for use in the West as motor fuel, natural gas, fertilizer and useful products.

Wyoming is the nation's leading producer of coal. However, the concern over global warming has spurred a movement to reduce reliance on coal because of the carbon dioxide emitted when coal is burned.