State Sen. Gene Yaw’s legislation for state oversight of “carbon capture” technology is an important step in the right direction.

As Yaw said, “it’s a pragmatic solution to a problem we all want to solve — reducing our carbon emissions without crippling the reliability of our existing power grid.”

We acknowledge that much work must be done for carbon capture and sequestration to be viable. Technologies need to be further developed and improved.

But, as this newspaper has noted often, the same can be said of reliance on renewable energy.

For solar and wind power to truly meet the needs of American society, affordable battery capacity to store energy when demand is down must be improved.

As the Williamsport Sun-Gazette has reported before, Yaw has valid concerns that reducing the use of so-called “fossil fuels” without technological improvement will leave Pennsylvania’s businesses and families at an unacceptable level of risk of power failures.

We believe both avenues should be explored. We hope the feasibility of both options will be proven and that both an increase in solar and wind power and development of cleaner oil and natural gas, with reduced emissions thanks to carbon capture, will play a role in a more sustainable future for America’s energy needs.