Submitted by Sol Shapiro, Aug 13, 2007 18:33

We have energy independence in electrical energy and in heating. What we don't have is energy independence in liquid fuels which we need to run our transportation fleet. There is a way to gain energy independence in liquid fuels in 2 decades without new invention. We need to use the 80+ year old Fischer-Tropsch process to convert coal to liquid which the Germans used heavily during World War 2 and which South Africa is now using to producie about 180,000 barrels per day (a holdover from apartheid days). The technology is cost effective at $40 to $50 per barrel and there is enough coal to supply as much of our liquid fuel this way as we desire. But the enviros have scared the s__t out of the pols becaue this process will increase the world's CO2 emissions less than 0.2% per million barrels per day produced. If the U.S. wants energy independence, here's a plan. Provide tax credits for coal-to-liquid as well as biomass to liquid against a floor price set for each supply source. Get the funding to support this floor price by an excise tax on all liquid fuel should the Arabs and their friends try to kill the program by undercutting the price as happened in 1982 with oil shale. And as to that CO2, the world will need to go to a geo-engineering solution such as emulating what happens when there is a large volcanic eruption to re-balance the Earth's eneergy interchange with the universe. This may sound crazy to some of you, but if you want to learn, contact me at Somar@msn.com

Note: Comments are screened, and in some cases edited, before posting. We reserve the right to reject anything we find objectionable.