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The
Great Plains Synfuels Plant
Planning
for the Great Plains Synfuels Plant actually started in 1972, before
the OPEC crisis, but President Jimmy Carter’s synfuel bill,
passed in June 1980, played a crucial role in pushing the plans
ahead.
The next year, Ronald Reagan had won the presidency, and
his secretary of energy, James B. Edwards, backed a loan guarantee
for construction of the plant in North Dakota. Reagan’s budget
director, David Stockman, and Edward E. Noble, the chairman of the
federal Synthetic Fuels Corporation, both opposed it. Reagan settled
the dispute in favor of a construction loan guarantee for up to $2
billion, and the plant was built.
It began operation in 1984 and lost a lot of money while
oil prices were low, but for several years now it’s been in the
black. It uses 6 million tons of coal each year to produce 54 billion
cubic feet of synthetic natural gas, which it sells to businesses and
residents of North Dakota. It also produces fertilizers, solvents,
and CO2.
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