WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator John Barrasso, R-Wyo., had the following reaction to President Bush’s energy related remarks in tonight’s State of the Union Address:

“In his State of the Union Address, the President properly noted ‘we must fund new technologies that can generate coal power.’  Wyoming produces a third of our nation’s coal.  In fact half our nation’s electricity is generated from coal.

“We need all of our nation’s traditional energy sources, and Wyoming ’s coal is an important part of that. We simply can’t walk away from coal.

“I believe the President takes a step in the right direction. It needs to be a bigger step. We need to take immediate action on ideas such as tax credits for clean coal technologies and dollars for gasification technology.

“Developing innovative technologies is critical. I believe government and private enterprise both have prominent roles in research and funding. Now is the time for the federal government to engage in energy research."