Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal said no matter what a person's view is of climate change, the fact remains that Wyoming is an energy exporter. And if the state is to maintain its economy, it's going to have to become a leader in the clean energy technologies that out-of-state energy markets demand.

Fortunately, Wyoming has the whole range of energy resources to be in control of its own fate.

"If we get this done, Wyoming is going to be a great place for our grandchildren. If we don't get it done, it's going to be difficult," Freudenthal said.

Freudenthal spoke about climate change and the state's finances at a forum Thursday evening in Casper. It was the final forum in a climate change series sponsored by the University of Wyoming's Helga and Otto Haub School and William Ruckelshaus Institute of Environment and Natural Resources.

Freudenthal interrupted a question from the audience that seemed to suggest he had president-elect Barack Obama's ear on energy matters.

"This notion that Obama and I are big buddies … there's nothing to it," Freudenthal said.

A large number of attendees were in town for the Wyoming Business Alliance's own forum on climate change - a forum based on staging climate change as a debate.

Freudenthal said his own view on climate change is that it is real and action is required.

"The data is real. You can argue about the degree to which man is responsible," said Freudenthal. "But the part we can control is [man-caused] CO2."

Freudenthal said he's in favor of a federal cap-and-trade program to reduce carbon emissions. He'd even favor a federal renewable portfolio standard or carbon tax so long as the reduction goals and timeframe expectations are reasonable.

"Either way, you impose a cost on the economy. You've got an allocation of burden question, and timing," said Freudenthal. "Right now, we're essentially doing nothing."

At the national level, Freudenthal suggested that people need to get over the notion that the U.S. shouldn't self-impose carbon reductions if China and India aren't making reductions as well.

"It is incredibly arrogant of us to suggest to a developing economy to stop developing," Freudenthal said. "You do what America is really, really good at; develop those [carbon reducing] technologies that can be made available around the world."

Freudenthal suggested that China and India are so preoccupied with ramping up energy production that they're not focused on clean energy technologies. The U.S. should develop those technologies and export them to places like China and India.

"To some degree, our fate is in our own hands because the energy resource is here," said Freudenthal. "A lot of it will depend on what we do. If we stand in the corner and say we don't like the world, the world doesn't care."

In terms of Wyoming being in charge of its own future in a new energy economy, Freudenthal said the state, the university and the legislature are laying the foundation by addressing legal issues for carbon sequestration, establishing the School of Energy Resources, and partnering in research such as the High Plains Gasification Advanced Technology Center.

In the near-term, prices for Wyoming's energy commodities will likely weaken. But because energy is central to the economy, Wyoming should prepare for the economic rebound. The big question is how long will it take to rebound.

In the interim, Wyoming is going to see coal production maintain at current levels, maybe a little higher depending on when the economy comes back. Freudenthal said Wyoming is going to continue with natural gas production. Once the economic downturn is over, natural gas production will continue to accelerate because utilities are still waiting to add new coal generation.

"But we have a really troubling period in the near-term. What I hope is the near-term is a lot shorter than it looks to be," said Freudenthal. "The way we are going to make sure those finances [Wyoming's energy revenues] continue is we have to be as great a leader in the new energy economy as we've been in the traditional energy economy."

Energy reporter Dustin Bleizeffer can be reached at (307) 577-6069 or dustin.bleizeffer@trib.com.