I was going to post this on Jeromes outstanding energy thread however by the time I finished i wasn't talking about Montana, or even coal to oil technology. What I was realizing was that at least two of Americas Democratic Governors are launching high profile energy initiatives that put the White House to shame and show how much traction we can make against the Oil Monopolists with a little public vision and money. Could this be the tip of a coordinated Democratic Energy Policy that can win us big money and big votes in 2006 and 2008?
Perhaps we bloggers aren't the only ones who have seen the value in a farsighted energy independence program. Demonizing big oil and the Saudis will be the de riguer planks in 2006. Everyone keeps harping, "what do the democrats stand for..." Well, two of the sharper tools in the democratic shed have recently given us a peek at a real stance.
Pennsyvania's Governor Ed Rendell (well connected former Dem chair)put the wraps on a $600 plant in E. PA that will produce 5,000 barrels of clean fuel a day. That is a small scale but a model like in Montana, that can be sold to industry throughout the USA. It must be economically feasible because all of the real funding is coming from private sources with PA chipping in some tax incentives and the Feds guaranteeing them a 'Student Loan'. The greatest advantage is that every dollar spent on this technology stays in the USA so we aren't funding our once and future enemies. This is a platform that you can sell to the American public.
Environmental concerns have always come up regarding this technoloby but it is a net plus versus the technology it replaces. s We can't be paralysed because our current government is blind to the environment. I keep rooting for cold fusion but Rube Goldberg machines never work. This is proven technology that works and is economically feasible. The resultant fuels are cleaner than the ethel we put in our cars todayand we get electricity as a bonus. The ecological payoff however is greatest in the 'dirty coal' regions of the east. Pennsylvania has finished the financing of a 5000/gallon per day facillity near Philly that will utilize Culm. 'Culm' is the crappy, scrap pile coal that litters all coal states. Coal to Fuel technology cleans up these slate dumps without dumping the sulfur of 'dirty coal' into the air. If you believe the projects supporters there is 50 billion tons of culm in PA alone that could be turned into 50 billion barrells of clean fuel. Culm is easily scrapped off the surface and could be purchased for the price of land reclamation. This makes it the clean coal solution that you can sell to ecologists as well as eastern "dirty coal" states.
Coal to Fuel is not a perfect solution to anything but it is a bridge that is can get us to the magical "dark energy" of the next century. Best of all this technology keeps every dollar spent in the USA. Governor Schweitzer and Gov. Rendell in PA are taking a bold initiative in actually impletmenting a "Democratic Energy Policy" rather than just debating one. If sheiks and oil companies try to con us into doing nothing like they did thirty years ago it will be even more effective politically. We can then paint the republicans as being in the pockets of foreign and domestic mogels who would prefer america be out of money, out of oil and out of control.
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