News from Benwood Monday morning should have been of enormous interest to all Americans because it represented a step toward making use of coal to fuel motor vehicles. That is good news for everyone tired of paying $4 a gallon for gasoline.
Officials of Consol Energy Inc., the well-known mining company, joined with those of Synthesis Energy Systems Inc. of Houston, Texas, to make the announcement. It was appropriate that they were joined by Gov. Joe Manchin and Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., both champions of the idea of using coal liquefaction plants to ease the nation's energy problems.
The announcement - that Consol and SES are teaming to build an $800 million coal liquefaction plant in Benwood - is wonderful news for our area. It represents an economic development step in the right direction, toward good jobs based on manufacturing.
But the coal liquefaction plant to be constructed in Benwood has national - even international - significance. It means that at long last, Americans are beginning to realize that we need not rely on supplies of petroleum from other countries to fuel our vehicles and, sometimes, power plants and other industries. Coal, the value of which has been apparent to Ohio Valley residents for generations, holds at least part of the key to unlocking a bright future for Americans.
Both Manchin and Rockefeller have argued for years that a sensible national energy policy needs to encourage use of coal. Manchin in particular has suggested that our state's plentiful reserves of coal ought to be used to fuel not just one, but several liquefaction plants. Their participation in Monday's news conference must have been especially enjoyable to them - and it certainly was appropriate.
What is particularly pleasing about the announcement is that this is no "pilot project" or experimental plant. Consol and SES will be using tested, effective technology in Benwood. Equipment such as that proposed for the Marshall County location already is in use in China.
As much as 100 million gallons of 87-octane gasoline a year will be produced by the plant. That is an enormous amount by any reckoning - but it doesn't even represent a drop in the bucket in comparison to the motor fuel used in this country every year. Scores, perhaps hundreds, of coal liquefaction plants will be needed to have a meaningful impact.
What is wonderful about this week's news is that our local plant appears to be a pioneering effort in a campaign that may - and should - spread rapidly to other regions.
Consol and SES could have chosen any number of other sites for the plant. We're proud that they chose Marshall County - and residents of the entire Ohio Valley should be, too. What is about to happen right here is very, very significant. It is not too much to speculate that, in the not too distant future, millions of U.S. motorists will have reason to be grateful for what is about to happen right here. Pay attention, America: We're going to show you how it's done.