Squeezing Clean Transportation Fuels from Coal

The National Coal Council, an advisory group for the Secretary of Energy, estimates that our coal supply could support an additional 100 Gigawattts of electricity production, 2.6 million barrels per day of coal-derived fuels, four trillion cubic feet of synthetic natural gas and other products by 2025. Our secure domestic coal supply is important enough to have drawn the attention of the Air Force, which has successfully tested blends of coal-derived jet fuel in its planes.

Environmental objections are always raised to coal use but technology is making the objections obsolete. Coal plants are getting cleaner every year and in just a few years we will have a near-zero emissions, coal-based demonstration plant called FutureGen up and running.

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