"Byrd said he remains in close touch with Sen. Jay Rockefeller, Rep. Nick Rahall and Gov. Joe Manchin on proposed coal conversion facilities that employ modern technology to produce transportation fuels."
The technology is real, Mike. And, if appropriate design of coal conversion facilities is insisted upon, those same facilities can ultimately convert biomass, cellulose primarily, into fuel, and the more complex, "denser", organic compounds of coal into more valuable raw materials for a variety of manufacturing processes.
And, one big reason WV coal is better is that it's ease of access and proximity to markets offsets - dramatically, in all likelihood - the capital costs of conversion to liquids relative to the exploration, exploitation and transportation of Alaskan petroleum.
Those factors need to be included in the larger equation.