Microbes may produce marketable methane gas from old coal

Mead Gruver, The Associated Press

Roland DeBruyn, left, vice president of engineering for Luca Technologies, and the company's vice president of operations, Verlin Dannar, at a coal-bed methane well near Gillette, Wyo.

EnlargeCloseMead Gruver, The Associated Press

Roland DeBruyn, left, vice president of engineering for Luca Technologies, and the company's vice president of operations, Verlin Dannar, at a coal-bed methane well near Gillette, Wyo.

Coal, researchers have found, is full of microbes that consume the fossil fuel and break it down into methane gas. Two companies want to take advantage of this naturally occurring phenomenon on a large scale to create vast amounts of natural gas in energy-rich places like Wyoming.

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