Montana's governor eyes coal to solve U.S. fuel costs
By Adam TannerThu Aug 25, 1:55 PM ET

Montana's governor wants to solve America's rising energy costs using a technology discovered in Germany 80 years ago that converts coal into gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel.

The Fischer-Tropsch technology, discovered by German researchers in 1923 and later used by the Nazis to convert coal into wartime fuels, was not economical as long as oil cost less than $30 a barrel.

But with U.S. crude oil now hitting more than double that price, Gov. Brian Schweitzer's plan is getting more attention across the country and some analysts are taking him very seriously.

Montana is "sitting on more energy than they have in the Middle East," Schweitzer told Reuters in an interview this week.

"I am leading this country in this desire and demand to convert coal into gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel. We can do it in Montana for $1 per gallon," he said.

"We can do it cheaper than importing oil from the sheiks, dictators, rats and crooks that we're bringing it from right now."

The governor estimated the cost of producing a barrel of oil through the Fischer-Tropsch method at $32, and said that with its 120 billion tons of coal -- a little less than a third of the U.S total -- Montana could supply the entire United States with its aviation, gas and diesel fuel for 40 years without creating environmental damage.

An entry level Fischer-Tropsch plant producing 22,000 barrels a day would cost about $1.5 billion, he said.

The Democratic governor of this Republican state said he had met with Shell president John Hofmeister, General Electric's CEO Jeff Immelt, as well as officials from the Department of Defense, and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad to discuss his proposals.

Schweitzer added that the recently passed federal energy bill includes an 80 percent loan guarantee for a Fischer- Tropsch plant.

A former cattle rancher who lived for seven years in Saudi Arabia working on irrigation projects, Schweitzer is also seeking energy deals with other states, especially California.

California "says they need 25,000 megawatts of electricity during the next ten years," he said. "We'll give you a delivered price and we'll forward contract that for the next 20 years.

"Transmission companies from England, from Canada, from all over America are coming to my office and saying 'we'll build these transmission lines as soon as you have the contracts to build the generation."'

More Info on Fischer-Tropsch Process


A NOTE FROM ARCHIVIST DAN MARTIN: 

The fact is, new technology holds the promise of making huge quantities of existing domestic crude oil available from wells that were capped decades ago.

There is also a remarkable new process for extracting vast amounts of energy from Colorado Oil Shale that also promises both relief from dependence on Arab oil and freedom from nuclear accidents and terrorism.

Huge new fields of untapped natural gas in Texas have recently been discovered.   In March 2006, Mexico announced the discovery of the Noxal oil field in the Gulf of Mexico off Veracruz.  Noxal is believed to contain 10 billion barrels of crude oil.   In September 2006, the new Jack Field oil reserve - some 270 miles southwest of New Orleans - was estimated by the Wall Street Journal to hold as much as 15 billion barrels of oil.  It seems as if 'running out of oil' is not the urgent problem as portrayed by the pro-nuclear lobby.

The purpose of this archive is not to steal, but rather to preserve.  I always give full credit to the original source and have no profit motive or incentive in presenting the above.   A link to the original post is included below.  The original content is unaltered and the original appearance differs [if at all] mostly in the welcome absence of pop-up windows and advertisements.  Many of the outside links in the original article have been preserved as have most images (space allowing).  Over the last few years the internet version of " Here Today, Gone Tomorrow" has become all too common.  This archive is intended to act only as a backup resource in the event the original disappears.  To jump to the original article,  Click here

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