TEXAS ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT Blog | The Dallas Morning News
 
There is supposed to be a fuller news release available on this story, which appeared only yesterday. We're trying to track it down.
 
However, here you have it, from Oil Country to Coal Country: We can make oil for $30 per barrel from coal.
 
The excerpt:
"UT Arlington to license coal-to-crude tech to build a refinery this year
The University of Texas at Arlington has found a way to turn coal into crude oil, and, perhaps more importantly, the money to do so on a large scale.
Researchers with UTA's Center for Renewable Energy and Science Technology expect to license the technology to a company, which will build a refinery by the end of the year to turn lignite coal into oil. According to a press release, the process can produce oil for around $30 a barrel -- far less than the current market price for crude of around $75 a barrel.
While the process doesn't create renewable fuel, it would create a domestic source for vehicle fuel and plastics."
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As we've been saying: We can synthesize liquid fuel and plastics from coal; and, we can do it competitively.
They know that in the Oil Patch, and talk about it publicly. Why don't we seem to know it, or talk about it, in Coal Country?