Plenty of deep thinkers were crowded into the Coal To Liquids Coalition conference last week at Glade Springs, and while plenty of technical jargon was put out there, the real message was quite evident — federal lawmakers must get on board quickly for America to realize the multiple benefits the synthetic fuel offers to the U.S.

Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America, quickly cut to the chase on this matter by labeling CTL as a legitimate and real answer to resolving numerous worrisome issues on the table for our country. Energy independence, national security, the trade deficit and economy all stand to benefit greatly from the expansion of CTL technology. In West Virginia, thousands of jobs with good wages and benefits are in the balance.

Should be a no-brainer for Congress, right? Wrong, at least so far.

Environmental concerns, aimed directly at CTL plant operations and the marked increase for coal production to supply them, have gotten plenty of lawmakers from noncoal-producing states on the anti-CTL and anti-coal bandwagon.

Congressman Nick Rahall, who spearheaded the effort to have the CTL conference and who has been an outspoken proponent of the synthetic fuel industry in Washington, acknowledged the battle ahead to get the government on board to provide loan guarantees and incentives.

“It’s been a continual process to prove that under certain circumstances that overall carbon emissions can be reduced and that we can have a cleaner burning fuel than conventional tailpipe emissions,” Rahall stated.

And in that statement lies the real argument for CTL.

Rahall, Roberts and other CTL supporters believe the research and technology available today to sequester and capture carbon, and advances which will be made over the next decade as this process develops, are critical to providing a new, better liquid fuel source to help support our growing energy needs, even if it only fulfills 10 percent of America’s demand as is being proclaimed by opponents.

The other piece of the puzzle is that further delays on CTL will simply put us further behind the rest of the world.

“We should have done this 30 years ago,” Rahall remarked. “But people forgot all about the long lines at the pump and the energy crisis. Well, they are back with us and they are not going away this time.”

We agree. The time for developing CTL plants in the United States has come, and it’s really critical on such a wide number of fronts. It would be irresponsible for federal legislators not to support its promotion and expansion.