From what I recall, Ashland Oil was primarily if not strictly a refiner and had little, if any oil production themselves. It certainly would have been in their best interest to make coal liquefaction work if they could and diversify away from the oil markets.
Today, by far the biggest refiner in this country is Valero and they have little if any oil. It would be in their best interest to make this technology work. Must be a good reason.
I think it's called ROI.
I'm a big believer in the economics of free enterprise and a free market. An honest and informed evaluation of ROI makes for good decisions. For a good ROI, private investment dollars are always available.
But that's where government steps in. When the ROI doesn't make sense, but politicians can get votes from dishonest or ill-informed people, spending tax dollars is the solution. Our county just started a government-run bus service after touting how much money the county was going to make once it was operational. Of course it took public "investment" of tax dollars to get it operational. They're still waiting for the "return."
The proposed CTL plant is the same thing. Buy votes in Illinois by making a bad ROI decision.