The executive director of the Wyoming Energy Authority is now a member of the National Coal Council, WEA announced Monday.
U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright appointed Wyoming Energy Authority Executive Director Rob Creager to the council.
The Wyoming Energy Authority is a state government agency designed to bolster the state’s energy economy, and that runs on a two-year budget of $5.2 million. Creager was appointed to lead it in April 2023.
The agency said in a Monday statement that Creager will now bring his expertise in coal, and his representation of Wyoming, to the national stage. Established in 1984, the National Coal Council is a federal advisory committee that helps guide the U.S. Department of Energy.
Creager will serve a two-year, unpaid term on the NCC, during which he’ll advise the Department of Energy on the traits of the coal market — a central resource in the Trump administration’s energy agenda.
“Coal is foundational to Wyoming communities and has been for generations,” Creager said in the statement. “This abundant resource has a critical role in powering the nation, and I am honored to represent our state and local partners in this role. This appointment ensures that Wyoming’s voice is at the table as national energy policy is shaped.”
In April, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at bolstering the coal industry.
Among other actions, Trump’s order designated coal as a mineral, lifted barriers to mining the resource, and canceled previous administrations’ policies that sought to limit its use.
Not long after Trump’s order, Wright renewed the charter for the National Coal Council, which the Biden administration allowed to lapse in November 2021.
Rob Wallace, former Assistant Secretary to the U.S. Department of Interior, called Creager’s appointment to the council a “plus” for Wyoming, which is America’s largest producer of coal.
“Rob has a pretty broad view of energy technologies that are potentially helpful for Wyoming: Carbon capture being one, clean coal technologies being another, and in my opinion, those are going to have to be part of the mix,” Wallace told Cowboy State Daily in a Monday phone interview.
“And Rob has an idea about those technologies, if they’re going to work, and how they’re going to benefit Wyoming,” he added.
Ole Braatelien can be reached at ole@cowboystatedaily.com.
