CHEYENNE -- Gov. Dave Freudenthal said construction could start as soon as this summer on a coal research plant the University of Wyoming is developing with General Electric Co.

The Wyoming Legislature in the session that wrapped up last week put up $20 million for the project. The money comes from federal payments to the state aimed at addressing reclamation of abandoned mine lands.

Officials with GE and the university announced last month that they had signed a letter of intent to develop the coal research plant in the state. They said the $100 million facility could be operating by 2010.

Freudenthal said UW has retained an outside legal firm to negotiate with GE over the question of ownership of the rights to intellectual property that could be developed in the partnership.

Monte Atwell, head of GE's technical team on the project, said last month that plans call for the plant to be built on a one-one hundredth scale of a commercial plant. He said it should be able to process about 30 tons of coal a day.

Officials with UW, meanwhile, have said that developing the plant in the state would allow students here to gain experience in working with gasification as well as the capturing of carbon emissions, which have linked to global warming trends.

Freudenthal said no location has been chosen yet for construction of the GE plant.

"They want to be doing work this summer," Freudenthal said of GE. "They want to be doing work on getting this facility up this summer, and I think that's realistic."

Cynthia Coleman, spokeswoman for GE in Houston, said Wednesday that the company believes that negotiations with the state are going well and construction will begin this year.