NOT IN MY BACKYARD!
I would rather ride my bike.
Mountain top coal mine.
Posted on 04/25/2006 8:06:16 AM PDT by ex-Texan
Yanzhou Coal Mining, the mainland's second-largest listed coal miner, said its parent company Yankuang Group has received approval from the government to develop a 5-million-ton coal-to-oil project.
The first phase of the project in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province is estimated to cost 10 billion yuan (US$1.25 billion). Its capacity will reach 1 million tons of oil products a year, Chief Financial Officer Wu Yuxiang told reporters in Hong Kong yesterday.
"Total production capacity of the project will amount to 5 million tons annually," he said, without giving a timetable.
Yankung Group will mainly participate in the preliminary stage of the project, which "will be handed over to Yanzhou Coal when the time is ripe," said Wu.
"Given the abundant reserves of coal and inadequacy of oil and natural gas on the mainland, the conversion of coal to oil products will be a trend in the future," said Wu.
Other mainland coal mines are also becoming active in transforming coal into oil products to cope with rising oil demand.
Shenhua Group, the largest coal company on the mainland, is a pioneer of coal-to-oil technology and has poured 300 million (US$37 million) into the research and development of its liquefaction technology since 1997. It will start production of its first coal-to-liquid project at the end of next year.
Yanzhou Coal said yesterday it planned to produce 6 per cent more commercial coal this year.
It had produced 13 per cent less, or 31.94 million tons of commercial coal - suitable for sale - in 2005, partly because of delays in relocating people in six villages living above its mines.
"That dragged down our output by 34.6 million tons," said Wu.
But "the impact from the disruptions has been eliminated entirely in April," Wu Yuxiang told reporters. "From now on, all of our coal mines will run at full rates to meet demand.
Yanzhou, which has been acquiring assets at home and abroad, would continue to do so, Wu said.
The company expects to sign an agreement in the second quarter of this year to buy a coal mine in Shaanxi Province. The project, designed to produce 8 million tons of coal a year, would start production by the end of this year, Wu said.
Capacity would be raised to 20 million tons annually over the next three to five years, he added.
Looks like the Chi-coms get it. Too bad our legislative bodies are dumb as dirt.
If this stuff keeps up the price of oil will fall.
NO! NO! NO! Turning coal into oil and gas will only prolong our addiction! It will be bad for the Environment! It will cause more global warming! It will cause acid rain! It will hurt women and children worst of all!........
Reminds one of Roger Miller's "We'll All Be Drinkin' That Free Bubble Up and Eatin' That Rainbow Stew."
"Looks like the Chi-coms get it. Too bad our legislative bodies are dumb as dirt."
I agree, but building these plants ANYWHERE will slow the increase in the demand for oil worldwide. So it's good news.
Hmmm. There's a little blurb lost there.
We have over one hundred years of lignite which can be converted. So what are we waitin' for?
This is actually good news, since this should cause oil prices to drop. Lets face it, its a global Oil economy (which of course most Liberals dont understand). Whatever another large consumer can do to curtail its oil imports, is GOOD news for the rest of us.
But it will look so pretty when they fill it with water.............
[But it will look so pretty when they fill it with water.]
lol. I think I'd rather take a chance with nuclear power and give the hydrogen economy a try. Nothing is free, and any form of energy will have draw backs.
Didn't greenpeace just endorse nuclear energy yesterday?..........
I also seem to remember a story not too long ago about the ChiComs firing up their nuclear program too. I am glad to see at least one country has the moxie to at least try to become energy self-sufficient. I believe Brazil just did the same thing with a new oil field off their south Atlantic coast, which when added to their ethanol production makes them self-sufficient.
I guess that means we are one of the few major countries unwilling to do what is necessary to meet our own energy needs in house. Our leaders would rather kiss the butts of 2 bit dictators and towelheads and beg them not to screw us too bad with their per barrel oil prices. Think how little we would have to care about the crap in the middle east if we weren't beholden to the Sheiks to power our cars. We could tell them to all go pound sand knowing we were secure in our own boundaries.
We obviously didn't learn any lesson from WWII. Both the Germans and the Japanese defeats can to some extent be laid at the feet of a lack of natural resources to maintain the war effort. This was especially true of oil. Japan had none and German had very little. They were both dependent on imports of much of the raw materials they needed to sustain the war. Once those sources were cut off they went down fast. We are rapidly putting ourselves in the same position. How much of the fuel for our tanks and planes come from Saudi, Mexican, Nigerian and Venezuelan oil fields and how easy would it be for those sources to be shut down? Even the Canadians could take a dislike to us and cut off supplies. When you don't control the oil fields or don't use the resources(coal, tar sands, oil shale etc.) you have to offset that lack of control you don't control the flow. Someday that is going to come back to haunt us big time.
I guess this is one of the signs of American decline. A vigorous culture boldly takes steps to ensure their own continuity and survival. A decadent culture dithers and bickers even though a solution to its problems is obvious.
I'm just in a mood this morning.
Oil from coal doesn't the high tech sex appeal to succeed in this country.
Nothing new...the process is called Fischer-Tropsch and is currently use by Sasol in S Africa. And someone is starting this in Pennsylvania using coal-mine wastes.
Yeah, the Chinese will build a coal-to-oil facility and make buckets of money.
The US will do nothing and import the Chinese oil.
Hate to say it, but we have a Republican dominated legislature, a Republican President, and a conservative Supreme Court...
...yet our government is acting more liberal than the frigging Demon-craps (democrats).
It'll harm the poor, fuzzy little red badgers...
:-)
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