More discussion of US coal's abilities to supply our chemical processing and liquid fuel needs.
An excerpt:
"At the Chemical Purchasing Summit, organized by ICIS and PurchasingFTI Consulting, said: "Coal-to-liquids and coal gasification plants can be readily adapted to produce an exceptionally broad range of feedstock. This potentially provides a major competitive advantage for US industry." magazine, which took place in September, Andy Weissman, senior energy adviser at the New York City-based
Weissman is bullish on coal's abilities. "Coal is the only resource that can effectively fill the energy supply gap. It is the most abundant US energy resource," he said. "This can be developed at a reasonable cost with ultra-low emissions, especially if the development of carbon-capture and storage technology is sped up."
There are about 227bn tonnes of coal reserves in the US, or 27% of the global total. Weissman notes that this is equivalent to more than 500 years of current Middle East imports."