If these high coal prices last even a little bit longer, though, private equity firms might come calling, according to Ian Lange, director of the mineral energy economics program at the Colorado School of Mines.

After meeting for months, task force members are optimistic Colorado is ready to fund research and demonstration projects and move forward on enabling rules, said Laura Singer, carbon capture program manager for the Colorado School of Mines.

M. Stephen Enders, a professor who heads the mining engineering department at the Colorado School of Mines and spent four decades in the exploration business, said speed matters.

According to Morgan Bazilian, director of the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines, any near-term effects will likely come from people in Scotland who aren’t directly involved in negotiations.

Jim Crompton used to work for Chevron Oil as a senior advisor for digital oil field projects. He retired in 2013, after 37 years. Now he teaches petroleum engineering students at the Colorado School of Mines.

Morgan Bazilian, director of the Payne Institute at Colorado School of Mines, wrote this opinion piece with Dolf Gielen, director for technology and innovation at the International Renewable Energy Agency.

Jordy Lee and Elsa Barron of the Payne Institute for Public Policy wrote this opinion piece about the lack of knowledge and transparency around supply chains.

Another factor is that basins mature and shale plays “cannot increase in resources forever,” said Alexei Milkov, also a professor of geology and geological engineering at the Colorado School of Mines.

"Demand's up a little, supply is down a little, and supply is not coming back online as quickly as we'd initially thought," said Ian Lange, an associate professor of economics at the Colorado School of Mines.

The permitting process could help track down sources of pollution or former sources and make the public more aware of them, said Chris Higgins, a Colorado School of Mines professor focused on the lasting chemical compounds