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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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http://zfacts.com/p/1008.html | 01/18/12 07:29 GMT
Modified: Thu, 12 Jun 2008 18:45:14 GMT
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