Here's an interesting article I noticed on coal-to-liquids:

It's largely escaped notice, but there's already a dozen or so coal-to-liquids plants in various stages of development around the country.

While most are years away from construction, supporters of converting coal to motor fuels say at least some are a certainty - even if Congress doesn't approve incentives sought by coal-to-liquids supporters. Yet supporters consider some form of subsidy vital if the nation is going to build enough coal-to-liquid plants to dent its reliance on foreign oil.

"You're going to have a coal-to-liquds industry in the United States," said John Ward, vice president for marketing and government relations for Headwaters Inc.

Among other things, the South Jordan, Utah, company is working on a coal-to-gasoline plant proposed for North Dakota and researching the feasibility of coal-to-liquids for Pittsburgh-based Consol Energy. "The question is how fast will it happen," he said.

One plant is fairly far along. Rentech Inc. bought a natural gas-fed fertilizer plant in East Dubuque, Ill., and hopes to convert to using coal by the end of 2009 or 2010. Production would start low - 920 tons of fertilizer and 1,800 barrels of diesel a day.

Read the whole thing.