Montana's Coal Cowboy(synfuel ping)

CBS ^ | Feb. 26, 2006 | Miguel Sancho

[isaiah55version11_0]

Read the whole article. This technology is 80 years old. And is being used in places like South Africa producing 200,000 barrels of gasoline and diesel a day. This is more than just a theory. The US has tons of coal. The math of all of this looks great, even with SeeBS as the source. For those more in the know I look forward to your comments.

[steel_resolve]

Man, I would agree to making fuel out of old people if it would help us slam the door in the face of the middle east. (Soilent Green is People-Gas!)

[Rodney King]

The governor is probably exxagerating the price at which it can be done... that being said, if you eliminated gas taxes on coal synfuel, then it it would probably come out ahead.

[isaiah55version11_0]

Too funny, that brings a whole new perspective on bio-diesel. Don’t scatter my ashes, just pour me into the tank.

[oxcart]

Peabody is the largest coal company in the US. I Bought it a year ago and am very happy!

[newgeezer]

I happened to catch this on 60 Minutes last week.

Lesley Stahl is a ditz.

[oxcart]

There is a stock split in there (2;1) also.

[Blueflag]

I read about this years ago. IIRC, WE, the US, have IN THE GROUND, more available hydrocarbon resources than the Mid East does.

THE REAL issue is that, unlike oil drilling/ natural gas extraction, THIS process permanently alter the landscape on a LARGE scale.

REM: (1) I think we should do this. (2) I think nuclear power ought to be ramped up big time (3) I think bio fuels ought to be ramped up big time. (4) quit, over time, buying oil from people who hate us.

[sgtbono2002]

I am sure the environmentalists will have a reason we cany do this, probably a dirty process involved in making it.
Of course it can be done we have known that all along. I dont understand why we havent been doing it. Like the man said anything to be rid of the hold on us the Arabs have.

We need to be self-sufficient, even if it costs more.

One big thing about this is that we keep it to ourselves, If we are going to pollute our air making this stuff we dont need to be exporting it. Of course any company that produces this will want to export and get in on the money from exports.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

But, Senator Byrd and Rockefeller won't like this. All the fuel should come from West VA and Kentucky. That's how they like it.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I don't think it can be done for $1/gallon.

[twidle]

"I read about this years ago. IIRC, WE, the US, have IN THE GROUND, more available hydrocarbon resources than the Mid East does"

Somewhere along the way I also read this information and that US wants to use resources of other countries and preserve ours. Will post when I find. My husband died in 1988, was Aerospace Engineer, believe he was my source.

[azsportsterman]

Man, I would agree to making fuel out of old people if it would help us slam the door in the face of the middle east.

You first!

[DoctorMichael]

I also saw the friendly 60 Minutes piece they did on him this week.

If this was a REPUBLICAN Governor they'd (MSM/Enviro-Wackos/etc.) be all over him for wanting to strip mine the entire eastern two thirds of Montana.

[taxcontrol]

It takes a huge amount of heat to turn coal into gasoline. 2.2 tons of coal were burned for every ton of syncrude produced when the Germans did it during WWII.

I would think a better way to do this today would be to use either a coal gasification plant to generate the heat required or even better, a nuke plant built in conjunction with the coal processing plant.

Ideally, you could build a big enough nuke plant to provide "extra" electricity for the grid or use the waste heat and extra electricity to desalinate water. However, this would require a multi-billion dollar investment.

[EQAndyBuzz]

"Man, I would agree to making fuel out of old people if it would help us slam the door in the face of the middle east. (Soilent Green is People-Gas!)"

I was waiting for the gratuitous Soylent Green comment.

[EQAndyBuzz]

"Man, I would agree to making fuel out of old people if it would help us slam the door in the face of the middle east. (Soilent Green is People-Gas!)"

I was waiting for the gratuitous Soylent Green comment.

[Final Authority]

I think after capitalization for the scale this has to be done at, a dollar a gallon seems too cheap considering the environmental impact and other natural resources (water) that has to be redirected.

Taxes on the other hand are an essential part of the price of fuel that we consume. If it weren't for taxes how else would we build roads? Should we all possess an RFID tag like EZ pass and get a bill at the end of the month for our use of the highways? I think if we are to add into the mix of consumption, conservation, then a tax that is variable with consumption (the more one uses, the more one pays regardless of the mileage on roads driven, ie., gas guzzlers pay more) which in the long run may curb wasteful consumption.

Eliminating taxes on synfuel is to subsidize it, as is being done with ethanol and nuclear power (different mechanism for nukes however). Unless it can stand on its own we will never know in the long term how successful the technology may be. And, I do not think we need to raise taxes or add to the national debt to subsidize personal transportation.

[Rodney King]

Taxes on the other hand are an essential part of the price of fuel that we consume. If it weren't for taxes how else would we build roads? Should we all possess an RFID tag like EZ pass and get a bill at the end of the month for our use of the highways? I think if we are to add into the mix of consumption, conservation, then a tax that is variable with consumption (the more one uses, the more one pays regardless of the mileage on roads driven, ie., gas guzzlers pay more) which in the long run may curb wasteful consumption.

I agree. Theoretically, however, one could make the argument that oil is very heavily subsidized by the State Deparment/Military/Foregin Aid budgets, so that one could reduce taxes on domestically produced energy and/or increase taxes on middle east energy.

[Alberta's Child]

THE REAL issue is that, unlike oil drilling/ natural gas extraction, THIS process permanently alter the landscape on a LARGE scale.

Ironically, this is what makes open-pit coal mining an attractive "interim" land use in mountain areas that are good locations for potential tourist resorts. A massive open-pit coal mine is one of the ideal locations for constructing a golf course, since the developer pretty much has a blank slate and plenty of rock and earth fill to work with.