The Supreme Court of the United States, in the delivery of it's opinion by Justice Kennedy, reproduced herein, confirmed the reality, and the value, of coal conversion technology. If we read this correctly, the Court ruled against both Amoco (now BP) and the US Government, who attempted to transfer the rights of those coal conversion values as part of a transfer of rights to natural gas. The Court clearly acknowledges that both gas ("producer gas") and valuable liquids ("liquid 'coal extracts'") can be synthesized, or otherwise generated, from coal.
The excerpt:
"SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
AMOCO PRODUCTION COMPANY, on behalf of it-
No. 98—830
AMOCO PRODUCTION COMPANY, on behalf of it-
self and the class it represents, PETITIONER v. SOUTHERN UTE INDIAN TRIBE et al.
ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT
[June 7, 1999]
Justice Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court.
(The fact that CBM gas was known to escape naturally from coal distinguishes it from the “producer gas” that was generated from coal in the 1800’s. Brief for Federal Respondents 30. Producer gas was produced by “destructive distillation, that is, by heating the coal to a temperature where it decomposed chemically.” App. at 531 (reproducing Perry, The Gasification of Coal, Scientific American 230, (Mar. 1974)). The natural escape of CBM gas from the coal also distinguishes CBM gas from other “volatile matter,” expelled when coal is heated, or liquid “coal extracts,” which “can be extracted though the use of appropriate solvents.” Brief for Federal Respondents 26—27. The United States’ expressed concern that if the coal reservation does not encompass CBM gas it does not encompass these “components” of coal, see ibid., is unfounded.)"
We submit this just in case you had any remaining doubts. The Court should rule that, for reasons of national security and the common good, we have to start converting our coal to liquid fuel.