State looks for clean coal deal

The Schweitzer administration on Monday began courting partners to help build a plant to convert the state’s vast coal reserves into liquid fuel and diesel as a clean energy source.

Tax breaks and loan guarantees for clean coal and other technologies are included in the energy bill signed into law Monday by President Bush. One of those loans can be used to develop a Western demonstration project on coal gasification, which uses coal to create a gas that can be refined into diesel or jet fuel. The gas can also be burned to produce electricity.