Word: coal
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...other hand, Congress has decided to go more slowly than the President wanted in developing synthetic gas or oil from coal, shale and tar sands. In July Carter suggested spending $88 billion over the next decade to build some 40 synthetic fuel plants. But three Senate consultants concluded that such a program would be too much, too fast, and waste billions of dollars. As a result, the Senate this month passed a more modest $20 billion bill that will offer loans and price guarantees over the next five years to private companies to open perhaps a dozen commercial synthetic fuel...
...raised the possibility of still further energy action. "It is clear that we must embark on new initiatives in all sectors and rethink what is possible," says Deputy Energy Secretary John Sawhill. He adds that the Administration is considering ways to boost gasohol production, force utilities to use more coal and other oil conservation measures. Such proposals would save as much as 600,000 bbl. of oil per day; up to now, the U.S. has been importing some 700.000 bbl. daily from Iran...
...Foul weather. Last winter was the coldest that the Russians have suffered for 75 years; it damaged power lines, rails and roads and paralyzed production across much of Eastern Europe. East Germany, the world's largest brown coal producer, was forced to import coal from the West. Later, flooding in the north and droughts in the south hurt several countries' harvests and forced expensive purchases of Western grain...
...world." The drive to gain some freedom from OPEC by developing domestic energy sources has never been more pressing. Last week the Senate easily adopted by a vote of 65 to 19 a $20 billion synthetic-fuel program that, among other things, would turn the nation's vast coal deposits into oil and gas. But of all the old and new sources of petroleum now being freshly examined, none is more promising or as controversial as the oil-bearing rock known as shale...
There is no way to reduce the crushing costs except to burn much more coal, continue with nuclear power, speed the development of synthetics and solar, move to mandatory conservation, and, of course, drill for more domestic oil. Last week, overriding objections of environmentalists, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to halt an Interior Department auction of leases to explore for oil on the Georges Bank off Massachusetts. Environmentalists fear that a spill or blowout could harm the rich fishing waters, but the court decision was yet another sign that the U.S. will have to make difficult compromises to secure energy...