Bush Ignoring Domestic Alternatives to Saudi Oil

The New York Times today reports that Bush officials, supposedly "furious over Saudi Arabia's handling of the investigations after 9/11," nonetheless continue to say that "the alternatives to Saudi Arabian [oil] are fewer today than seemed to be the case just three years ago." But if you look at how the Bush administration is ignoring major domestic oil potential at home, it seems more like the White House is trying to justify its all-too-close relationship with the Saudis.

As the Billings Gazette reported last week, there is a huge potential to turn Montana's massive parcel of coal into oil, using decades old coal gasification technology proven to work. Right now, "Montana has 120 billion tons of state and federal coal reserves under its surface" and "115 billion tons of that coal is recoverable." Using the technology, "one ton of coal would produce 1.5 barrels of diesel fuel." In other words, that is one helluva lot of fuel.

Before you start raising environmental concerns, consider this: the fuels created from gasification "are also clean - no sulfur, mercury or arsenic." Sure, it isn't perfect, but to get us off foreign oil we can't afford to only be pie-in-the-sky - and this is pretty good. Because while coal gasification still produces a gas-based fuel, it is far cleaner than any fuel used today, and the gasification process itself does not create emissions either.

Up until now, America hasn't explored using coal gasification because it is not profitable unless oil is above $35 a barrel. But now oil is at around $60 a barrel, and at that level to stay. Combining coal gasification, with solar, wind, ethanol energy and hybrid technology really means we can get our country off foreign oil. But it is up to our leaders to take the initiative to make it happen.

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