Schweitzer wants to plant coal-to-fuel factories in towns that are one step from dying

HELENA, Mont. -- Gov. Brian Schweitzer has a two-fisted idea for energy independence that he carries around with him.

In one fist is a shank of Montana coal. In the other fist is a vial of nearly odorless clear liquid -- a synthetic fuel that came from the coal. The fuel can run cars, jets and trucks or heat homes.

''Smell that,'' said Schweitzer, a Democrat, thrusting his vial of fuel under the noses of interested observers here in the capital. ''You hardly smell anything. This is a clean fuel, converted from coal by a chemical process. We can produce enough of this in Montana to power every American car for decades.''

Coal to fuel conversion, which was practiced out of necessity by nations like Nazi Germany and South Africa under apartheid, has been around for more than 80 years. It is called the Fischer-Tropsch process. What is new is the technology that removes and stores the pollutants during and after the making of the fuel; add to that high oil prices, which have suddenly made this process more feasible.

With coal reserves of about 120 billion tons, Montana has one-third of the nation's total and a tenth of the global amount. Most of it is just under the prairie grass in the sparsely populated ranch country of eastern Montana. Schweitzer wants to plant coal-to-fuel factories in towns that are now one step from dying. It may not provide enough fuel to wean the West off imported oil, but it may be enough to show the rest of the country that there is another way, he said.

For now, the governor's ideas are just speculative. Although several energy companies have expressed interest in building coal-to-fuel processing plants, no sites have been chosen or projects announced. Because it would be such a novel, financially risky undertaking, companies have been hesitant to go the next step. But Schweitzer said he hopes for a breakthrough, with several plants up and running within 10 years, and he says he does not need legislative approval to give the go-ahead if companies commit.

''This is not a pipe dream,'' said Jack Holmes, the president and chief executive of Syntroleum, an Oklahoma company that has a small synthetic fuels plant and wants to build something bigger. ''What's exciting about this process is you don't have to drill any wells and you don't have to build any infrastructure, and you'd be putting these plants in the heartland of America, where you really need the jobs.''

But there is another problem as well. Some Montana ranchers and environmentalists who fought big coal-mining proposals in the 1970s are worried about what new mining will do to the grasslands.

''The governor's idea is a big one,'' said Helen Waller, a farmer who is active with the Northern Plains Resource Council, a Montana environmental group. ''I'm not sure it's the best one. I don't think there's any such thing as clean coal. And even if there were, it would require a lot of productive ranchland to be ripped up.''