"The Energy Department has approved a $100 million grant to a first-of-its-kind startup power company that will try to convert coal wastes to diesel fuel for commercial use, officials said.

The grant represents a third of all federal Clean Coal Power Initiative funding to be distributed this year. If successful, Waste Management and Processors Inc. would be the first in the United States to turn raw anthracite coal byproduct into commercial diesel fuel."

My emphasis.

It must be nice to have the right friends in high places. Here we have a start-up company gets a $100 million bucks to try to get fuel from anthracite coal waste.

The article seemed to imply that this process may have been successful abroad. If so, perhaps there is some reasonable expectation of success, but as you've noted, 5000 barrels/day is a drop in the bucket.

Here's a clever idea to get some public benefit out of what I see as essentially corporate welfare:

Insist that Waste Management and Processors hire only currently unemployed workers to staff its project.

sp