Converting coal into liquid fuel is a 19th century idea. In the July 2 issue of The Forum, Timothy Ryan offers two key reasons why coal-to-liquid is a misdirection of human energy and capital: First, “the conversion process creates additional greenhouse gas emissions that make CTLs greater GHG emitters than petroleum-based fuels.” And second, just one new CTL plant “would cost $40 billion to construct, and multiple plants would be required.”
Further, unlike the editorial claims made in the same issue of The Forum, the potential for CTL is not “unlimited.” A finite resource – coal – cannot offer unlimited potential, and to assert otherwise is to engage in wishful thinking.
By contrast, biofuels represent cheaper, cleaner and faster ways to replace oil than proposals to build multibillion-dollar CTL plants. In addition, commercial-scale CTL plants require massive amounts of water (less water for Fargo?), more mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia, and strip-mining hundreds of square miles of farm and ranch land.
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