Members of the Peabody leadership team pose outside the char brick demonstration house
along with members of SER and the UW Foundation.
Published May 19, 2022
By Christine Reed
Representatives from Peabody visited the University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources (SER) on Monday. The visit comprised of members from the company’s leadership team, including Peabody President and Chief Executive Officer, Jim Grech; Marc Hathhorn, President of U.S. Operations; Darren Yeates, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Scott Jarboe, Chief Administrative Officer and Corporate Secretary, among others.
During the trip, the group learned about the innovative projects being conducted by SER – with partners in the College of Engineering and Applied Science and the College of Agricultural and Natural Resources – to drive new economic opportunities for energy development. Projects of note are SER’s leading research in the area of carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), new prospects in hydrogen production, and most especially the carbon engineering efforts using Powder River Basin coal to make high-volume commodity products such as coal-derived building materials, asphalt and paving materials, and soil amendments.
The group toured the SER facilities and labs, learning about the novel coal processing technology developed within the school’s Center for Carbon Capture and Conversion (CCCC), and took a field trip to the coal-derived char brick demonstration house located on the east side of campus.
“It is great to see first-hand the innovative projects and meet the team at the School of Energy Resources that are advancing efforts to expand the use of Wyoming coals,” said Jim Grech, President and CEO of Peabody. “With so many shared interests we look forward to continued collaboration.”
Peabody is a leading coal producer, serving customers on five continents from seventeen mines located in the U.S and Australia. Peabody has invested heavily in Wyoming and operates three mines in the Powder River Basin: the Caballo Mine, the Rawhide Mine, and one of the world’s largest coal mines, the North Antelope Rochelle Mine.
Peabody has made major investments in the clean coal endeavors initiated by SER since its inception. In 2008, Peabody announced that it would contribute $2 million in funding to the Energy Innovation Center, and funded research in the Advanced Coal Technology laboratory housed within.
Since then, Peabody has remained steadfast in its approach to environmental, social and governance standards. Throughout the life cycle of the company’s operations, it has been engaged in environmental stewardship efforts via low emissions and reclamation, demonstrated a high regard for its employees and coal communities, and has made investments in next-generation technologies.
In 2019 alone, Peabody generated over an estimated $2.8 billion of direct and indirect economic benefits for the state through its local operations and employs over 1,400 Wyoming citizens.
The leadership team’s visit to SER comes as Peabody continues to promote a responsible and sustainable future for coal.
“We were truly honored to host the executive team from Peabody,” says SER Executive Director, Holly Krutka. “The School of Energy Resources has a mission focused on energy-driven economic development and Wyoming. Developing technologies and policies to support markets for our world-class coal resources is absolutely part of meeting that mission. Peabody has played a major role in getting us to where we are now through its initial investment and confidence in our research. We are grateful for the time of the Peabody delegation, which allowed us the opportunity to showcase some of the advanced stages of the cutting-edge research developed by our collaborators across UW.”