North Dakota may be able to utilize another plentiful resource for gasoline other than oil.

Coal-to-fuel is an option which is being considered by some companies as a way to lessen our burden on imported oil.

“(Coal-to-liquid) is taking North Dakota lignite and turning it into gasoline,” said David Straley, manager of government and public affairs for North Dakota operations for North American Coal Corporation. “What you can do with oil we can do with lignite.”

According to Straley, the U.S. pays hundreds of billions of dollars per year to import its oil.

“When we come in and say we want to compete (with the oil companies), I think it’s kind of a welcoming competition because the United States spent $250 billion overseas to import 60 percent of our oil,” Straley said. “$250 billion every year goes to nations that aren’t so friendly to us and we buy their petroleum.”

The project is being looked at by three owners as a way to deal with high gas prices.

“North American Coal is one-third owner in this project along with Great River Energy and Headwaters Energy Services,” Straley said.

The project is still in its early stages, but by April 1, 2008, they expect a decision as to whether or not they are going to continue with the project.

“If all goes well, and we’re hoping that if we spend $50 million we’d better get the result that we want, at which point we will put a spade in the ground,” Straley said. “It will take a period of about four years to construct it.”

According to Straley, the economic impact on the state would be huge.

“The economic indications to us were that there would be $4 billion that would be injected into the North Dakota economy,” Straley said. “Products, services, you couldn’t begin to name them all.”

After the plant goes into production in 2014, Straley estimates there will be 700 well paying jobs available.

“The coal industry is pretty typical for being in the $70,000 range. They are great paying jobs,” Straley said. “It means mining jobs, it means engineering jobs, it means chemical engineering jobs, the synergies and all the potential this project has is fantastic.”

The byproducts of the plant also have the opportunity to be sold to other industries which need them and will keep impact on the environment low.

“This plant, when built, will capture 70 percent or more of its CO2. We set the benchmark at 70 percent and know we can do that,” Straley said. “We are going to treat CO2 like a commodity not as a waste not as a pollutant. We have enhanced oil recovery out here in western North Dakota that’s got some real potential for us to sell that CO2. We can make money at it, we know we can make money at it.”

Straley said the environment is also a big concern when reviewing the project.

“We know we need to be as clean as possible, we need to be as environmentally friendly as possible,” Straley said. “It’s something that’s near and dear to our hearts. These are my kids too, this is my air to breathe just as much as it is your air to breathe.”

The CO2 levels are also something that could kill the project before it gets started.

“The Achilles heel is setting that CO2 benchmark too high,” Straley said. “Frankly, we believe that is not a solution to the problem. You’re still going to have gasoline, you’re still going to have people driving their cars, the issue is where do you want to get that supply from?”

They are looking at three different locations to build the project with the likely spot being close to one of their current mining operations.

“We’ve got three sights picked out. The most reasonable, that’s kind of looking like it’s going there, is in McLean County out by our Falkirk Mine,” Straley said. “And the reason is we have access to water and access to coal.”

With the current demand for gasoline only going up, there is plenty of money to be made.

“We basically want to compete in the gasoline market. We believe that at $90 a barrel we can turn quite a profit turing North Dakota lignite into gasoline,” Straley said.

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