CHEYENNE - Energy and money for clean-coal technology research will be the top priority for former two-term state treasurer Cynthia Lummis if she is elected to the U.S. House.

Lummis, a 53-year-old Republican and Cheyenne lawyer and rancher, announced Wednesday she will be a candidate for the seat being vacated by seven-term Republican incumbent Barbara Cubin, who is retiring at the end of the year.

Lummis served with Cubin during her 14 years in the Wyoming House and Senate before winning her first term as state treasurer in the 1988 elections. Lummis won a second term in 2002 with no primary or general election opponent.

"As I read the direction of the discussion on climate change and energy policy, coal is taking a beating," Lummis said in an interview.

Three other Republicans who have announced their intention to seek the party's U.S. House nomination are Swede Nelson, a Cheyenne substitute teacher and motivational speaker; Bill Winney, a retired Navy captain from Sublette County; and state Rep. Dan Zwonitzer of Cheyenne, who works in his family's auction business.

Democrats who say they will run for the state's only seat in the U.S. House are Gary Trauner of Teton County, who lost to Cubin in 2006 by only 1,000 votes, and perennial candidate Al Hamburg of Torrington.

Lummis was one of three finalists chosen by the Republican State Central Committee to fill the vacancy created by the death in June of U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas. The other two were Tom Sansonetti, former Department of Justice official and longtime Wyoming GOP activist, and state Sen. John Barrasso, a Casper orthopedic surgeon. Gov. Dave Freudenthal appointed Barrasso to the Senate seat.

Lummis said uranium is another resource that will play a role in the nation's energy needs, and she supports construction of nuclear power plants. But even if the plants were permitted today, they would not be on line for 10 years, she said.

That means coal power is and will be "the main source of electricity in this country for the next 10 years," Lummis said.

"It will be difficult to achieve energy independence, but without coal it will be impossible to achieve energy independence," she said.

She applauded Congress's role in increasing standards for automobiles so they are more fuel efficient but said more can be done.

The technology exists to build electric cars and combination electric-combustion energy cars now. Congress, she said, should get those cars on the roads quickly by giving incentives to the industry or consumers or both.

"By failing to do so, all we do is empower our enemies because of the enormous oil resources in Iran, Iraq and Venezuela," she said.

Her second priority is to define the roles of the states.

When a bridge collapses in Minnesota or a wildfire breaks out in California, members of Congress throw money at the affected states to show they're doing something for their states and to ensure their re-election, she said.

She wants to adhere to the legitimate responsibilities of the states and get Congress away from debating issues that are not federal responsibilities.

"It also will allow us to look to states for the innovators that they are," Lummis said.

One project she worked on last year that piqued her interest in running for Congress was on a subcommittee on federal royalty management for the U.S. Department of the Interior.

The group, which performed a type of performance audit on the department's Minerals Management Service, issued a report last month. Lummis worked on the royalty-in-kind part of the report.

The subcommittee recommended that those royalties be placed in a trust fund to pay for Interior Department operations.

The idea is similar to proposals for the Wyoming Permanent Mineral Trust Fund which she initiated and supported. Both are based on the philosophy of using a non-renewable resource as an ongoing source of income to protect the nation's natural resources in the future, she said.

Lummis is married to Al Wiederspahn, a former legislative colleague and Cheyenne lawyer and businessman. They have a daughter, Annaliese Wiederspahn, who is a 2007 graduate of Haverford College in Haverford, Pa.

Contact Joan Barron at joan.barron@trib.com or by phone at 307-632-1244.