[Army Air Corps]

We can also convert coal into petroleum...

In the 1930s a chemist developed a method of converting plant matter into coal and crude oil through a process of heat and pressure. His experiments were featured in Life magazine in the late 1930s. If they could do that with the primative technology of the time, we can certainly do better.

[RightWhale]

I don't know what they call that process, but there should be a demonstration or pilot plant in operation now. In any case, they are not building these plants, and other alternatives are also expensive. We're going to miss our cheap oil. Have you looked at the Peak Oil theory?