Word: coal
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Besides stricter conservation, one vital policy for the U.S. is to boost the use of coal and the production of syntheic fuels, including shale oil. The U.S. could be producing as much as 6 million bbl. of "synfuels" a day by 1990, equal to about 75% of all current imports. Jimmy Carter wants the financing for his own more modest synfuels program to come from his proposed windfall profits tax; it would be levied on the increased revenues that U.S. oil companies have been earning since price controls on oil began to be phased out last June. But Congress must...
...hungry world increased its call for what America produces best: food. Average farm incomes increased 117% from 1970 to $23,263 per family in 1978 and are higher now. The region that fared best of all was the intermountain West because it is a trove of oil, gas, coal, shale and almost all the increasingly precious energy resources. Construction cranes climbed like church spires in Denver, Salt Lake City and other booming communities...
...only know what heats their homes, but millions, particularly those who must use oil, are painfully aware that their bills will nearly double this winter over last year. Solar heating of water and living space has crossed the minds of many. The business of wood stoves is booming. Coal stoves are being rediscovered. Stores selling insulation and weather stripping are doing well. Department stores are advertising insulated "snuggle bags" or "people sacks"?sleeping bags to stay awake in. Sweaters and wool chemises are actualities. Long Johns are a distinct possibility...
...meantime, new problems are cropping up. Wood thefts are on the rise: one well-equipped thief got away with a haul of 35 cords from a lumberyard in northern New Hampshire. And there are more and more warnings of pollution from wood smoke. Wood has little sulfur, compared to coal, and burning it adds nothing to the atmosphere's carbon dioxide sum. But participates from inefficient burners can polute in congested areas...
...long term, it is vital to move forward rapidly to develop every alternative energy source, from coal and shale to wind, waves and the sun. Meanwhile, conservation of existing supplies is indispensable, and politicians would do well to face the issue. Concludes Milton Lipton, president of the leading petroleum advisory firm of Walter J. Levy Consultants: "Despite the inevitable inequities of either steep taxes or rationing, there comes a time when you have to say, 'Damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead.' I cannot think of a better time to ask the American people to accept either...