61.0°

Sound off on the important issues at

One editorial writer criticized the governor for being gone while the Legislature is in session. Another referred to him as an unpopular governor.

A catty columnist wrote that according to a release from the governor's press aide, "Beautiful Becky," the governor has been "eating his way through Europe" promoting use of Alaska seafood, and that the writer "would be happy to eat fish in Warsaw or Hamburg or London." A gauche comment in this age of obese Americans, including the writer of this column.

Anyway, the governor did go to Europe along with Alaska trade, fishery and tourism representatives, to sell further use of Alaska resources. He gave the Legislature his budget and an oil tax plan first. Then instead of sitting around twiddling his thumbs while the lawmakers did their business, the governor went out to find them more business.

His most important meeting was in The Hague with Royal Dutch Shell's exploration and production director, Malcolm Brinded. Shell is one of the world's largest transporters and marketers of natural gas. It is interested in marketing the state's share of North Slope natural gas after the gas pipeline is completed.

Even more encouraging is what the governor's press aide, Becky Hultberg, wrote that we haven't seen touched on in many newspapers:

"Also at the meeting, the governor requested that Shell appoint a team of experts to evaluate a syngas project proposing the use of Beluga coal. Syngas could provide feedstock for Agrium's Kenai nitrogen facility and could also be used to provide gas to the Marathon and ConocoPhillips liquefied natural gas plant.

"Further benefits from the project could be development of a large coal co-generation plant for power or the reinjection of CO2 from the coal syngas back into Cook Inlet wells to maintain production. Syngas also can be used to create synthetic petroleum, which could be exported or used in Alaska. The Taiwanese government has expressed an intense interest in this process because of its dependence upon imported petroleum.

"The state will create a team to begin detailed examination of a syngas project with Shell and other interested parties."

The governor emphasized that the syngas project is necessary to ensure continued operation of Kenai area plants that depend upon a dwindling natural gas supply.

The conversion of coal, of which Alaska has huge reserves, is practical. The German war machine in World War II was powered by products refined from coal. After the war, the United States had a refinery fed by coal but oil was cheaper so President Eisenhower closed the plant.

Last week in Carefree and Gilbert, Ariz., two companies, Diversified Energy Corp. and Alchemix Corp., announced plans to spend $25 million to build a plant to demonstrate a new process for producing gasoline, diesel and other liquids from coal. It also produces the syngas Murkowski discussed with Shell. The process is called HydroMax and its costs are half that of Germany's Fischer Tropsch method. It is competitive with oil when oil exceeds $30 a barrel. It also produces hydrogen, which the president likes for powering vehicles, and the University of Alaska and the governor like for powering and heating remote villages with fuel cells.

The governor says that in Iceland hydrogen already is used in cars and busses and shortly will power fishing vessels. In Norway, a wind turbine provides the power to produce hydrogen that is stored and powers two 600 kilowatt fuel cell generators.

Montana's Gov. Brian Schweitzer also wants to reduce America's dependence on oil from foreign sources, some of which finances terrorists bent on killing Americans. The governor proposed in August to build a $1.5 billion plant to convert Montana coal to gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel. He said Montana holds one third of the nation's coal reserves, or more energy than the Middle East, where he spent seven years.

To add to Ms. Hultberg's story, a team at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Energy Center is testing fuel cells in partnerships with private industry and the federal government. They haven't had success yet with the small fuel cells for villages but continue to work. They will have a larger fuel cell in operation in Fairbanks next winter.

Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the team includes representatives of Northwest Power Systems in Bend, Ore., Teledyne Brown Engineering, Schatz Energy Research Center at Humboldt State University, Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, Calif, and University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers, of course. (Incidentally, the UAF Energy Center is recruiting.)

We presume Alaska's lawmakers will come up with their version of an oil tax plan shortly. Then it will be up to the lawmakers, the governor, and the oil companies to draft an agreement that is fair to Alaskans. But it must be an agreement that encourages industry to proceed with development, to speed the day of energy independence sought by the president, the governor and most Americans.

• Lew Williams Jr. is a retired publisher of the Ketchikan Daily News.