There will be blood...
Read this article from 2005...LINK
Some excerpts:
"The coal-conversion process produces no air pollution, uses no water
and creates electricity as a byproduct. The petroleum fuels produced
could be shipped out of state by pipeline."
"The answer, Barna told Schweitzer, is that break-even point with
Fischer-Tropsch technology is when oil is $35 a barrel. When oil costs
more than $35 a barrel, it's cheaper to make these fuels from coal
through this technology."
That article is from 2005. A barrel of oil is now $125. The bottom line is we need to get off out lazy, American asses and start moving forward on other ways to create energy and gas. I recently heard a statistic from a member of the National Coal Board, speaking about gas prices, coal, and oil in the US. He stated that the US has enough oil in offshore deposits to power 60 million cars for 60 years, of course that can be disputed, but the fact remains that we have a lot of oil out there. Yet, we won't drill offshore. Instead we ask Middle Eastern countries to produce more oil. Yet, we haven't built a new refinery in 32 years.
Also, after we ask for more production from the Middle East, Iran says they are going to scale back production. GREAT JOB! (Iran hates us, seriously. )
I think what we need to realize as a whole is that we must work on the energy situation. I believe that we should develop and invest in ALL energy sources: wind, solar, hydroelectric, coal gasification, more oil drilling, oil shale, etc. I am also a huge believer in making what we have more efficient. I also believe that the majority of elected officials we have aren't going to to jack squat about it. The bottom line is that we have to WAKE UP! I am tired of hearing people bitching about gas prices without looking into why they are high or what can be done. Bitching doesn't solve the problems. We have to have forward thinking and solutions, not false promises, saying the word "change" over and over(looking at you Obama), or allowing the government to be in bed with the oil companies.
I am sorry for the rant, but people need to wake up.
I will drink your milkshake.