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If it can be guaranteed that crude will stay above $50 a barrel, then at that price the coal to liquids technology becomes profitable. Problem is, a coal liquification plant is a long term investment, and if the oil bubble bursts, those who invested in such plants will lose their shirts. The same thing happened to the shale oil industry during the 70's oil price bubble, the price of oil dropped suddenly and the investors got burned. That's why these guys are hesitant to jump in to this technology without some kind of federal loan guarantee, such as that in the new (and far less than what it could have been) energy bill. Since so much of the current spike is speculator driven, there is no assurance that there won't be a bursting of the bubble. For what it's worth then, a $3.00 a gallon fuel price should be the plateau over the long haul, and that price is in line with the inflation adjustments. If it goes above that in the short term, then the economy is in trouble. Of course, there is so much that could have been done to check both the oil price rise and the inflationary affect it will have on other goods. We should have opened up ANWR 5 years ago, then we'd be getting that oil by now. We should have lifted all moratoriums on coastal drilling off California and Florida (after all, don't all those oil rig-hating Florida tourists depend on fuel to actually get there in the first place? What irony if fuel prices caused in part by such drilling moratoriums results in a loss of tourism to those states!) We definately should have provided incentives for new refineries long before now. And do we really need 40 different gasoline blends? If Bush can be faulted for anything, it's the fact that he did not rid the EPA of all those eco-idiots that brought us to this situation. What to do now for the sake of expediency besides what is in the new energy bill? Get rid of the GVW standards for truckers and replace it with a per axle maximum, the better to increase the load factor to juxtapose fuel price surcharges. Suspend all EPA mandated fuel blend requirements, and allow our refineries to produce more economical quatities of single fuel types. (It should also be noted that suspending these regulations would allow the importation of "non-compliant" gasoline and diesel to supplement domestic production.) Other than that, just realize that it was a problem years in the making due mostly to environmental feel good legislation, and it will take years to correct.
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