Coal to Liquids Option:

The Implications of the Hirsch Report become clearer

The Hirsch Report and the Bezdek follow-up report detailed the U.S. coal-to-liquids option. (CTL) The following article outlines some of the implications of the U.S. CTL option presented in these reports. To my mind the most important points are as follows:

1. Such a move has the overwhelming support of Congress.
2. Any move in this direction will depress prices in direct correlation to the output from this technology.
3. Not mentioned in the article, but something that you can bet the house on, is that coal sequestration will not be implemented in any meaningful way for decades if ever for this or any other of our energy producting industries.

The ultimate result of a major push towards CTL will be to hamper the rate at which we will develop our already too long delayed move towards genuine sustainability and long-term energy security. MORE