Air Force drops plan to make fuel from coal in Montana - McClatchy

[Eugene]

Source: McClatchy Newspapers

Posted on Thursday, January 29, 2009

Air Force drops plan to make fuel from coal in Montana

By Renee Schoof | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — The Air Force on Thursday dropped
plans to build a coal-to-liquid plant to produce fuel
for its aircraft, a plan that would've reduced
dependence on oil but increased the emissions of the
heat-trapping gases that cause global warming.

The Air Force has a goal to certify that all aircraft
could fly on a 50-50 blend of fuel by 2011. It's been
purchasing fuel made from coal from Sasol of South
Africa, most recently 300,000 gallons, said Air Force
spokesman Gary Strasburg.

-snip-

The Air Force is looking for alternatives to oil to
make sure that it can continue to operate its aircraft
when supplies are tight. The coal-to-liquid conversion
process, however, is expensive to set up and there
are no full-scale plants in the U.S.

Liquid fuel from coal produces more than twice the
greenhouse gas emissions as conventional petroleum-
based fuel.

The Air Force for the past year had been considering
building the plant at Malmstrom Air Force Base in
Montana, one of three U.S. Air Force bases that
maintain and operate the Minuteman III intercontinental
ballistic missile.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/257/story/61042.html

[phantom power]

1. This might be the one coal-to-fuel application I could get behind.

Emergency supplies for defense, that is.

[randr]

2. Coal gasification appears to be the most

senseless attempt yet to keep us dependent on fossil fuels. Burning coal is bad enough. Gasification requires enormous amounts of water and leaves massive piles of toxic waste for communities to deal with.
Not a bad technology to pursue but as of now it leads us down the same old path of neglectful management of our resources.
A good suggestion for national security would be to stop wasting what we have on illegal and senseless wars.