Loan guarantees for coal gasification

Pending legislation to provide Federal loan guarantees for high-Btu coal gasification plants is in the national interest. To alleviate the energy shortage will require the establishment of a synthetic fuels industry, and conversion of the nation's vast reserves of coal to gas is the most practical, energy-efficient and capital-efficient process. In addition, coal gasification is environmentally acceptable since the process is chemical. Gas from coal can be mixed with natural gas, stored, transported and distributed through existing pipelines and used in 40 million American homes. Gasifying coal permits the highest overall energy efficiency, and has economic advantages for the consumer as well as the supplier. These cover operating costs and the elimination of expensive appliance conversion. The energy unit cost to the residential consumer for electricity from coal as boiler fuel is twice that of gas from coal.