Opposing view: Industry needs jump-start

More energy is stored in America’s vast coal reserves than in all of the Middle East’s oil. Yet we continue to import more oil from hostile nations when we could be using our own abundant coal to fuel cars, trucks and airplanes with coal-to-liquid fuels.

The technology to produce liquid fuel from coal is proven. South Africa uses coal-to-liquids to supply more than one-third of its transportation fuel needs.


Coal-to-liquid fuel is clean. Government tests show that when emissions are measured against the life cycle of other fuels, coal-to-liquid fuel produces no more, and possibly less, greenhouse gas than the fuel it will replace. Coal-to-liquid fuel also emits far less harmful pollutants known to have health effects