Jaws Flapping

Well, the Governor is flapping his jaws about turning <a href="http://www.billingsgazette.com//index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2005/08/02/build/state/25-coal-fuel.inc">coal into fuel again</a>. I have nothing against the proposal but instead of flapping his jaw about it why doesn't he do something about it. To make this scheme work you need to be mining coal. This would be a very important first step to get this thing done. The state needs to offer these "Otter Creek" lands for mining to start with.<br />n<br />n<blockquote>To develop the state's Otter Creek Tracts – 11 square miles in three separate parcels – the State Land Board would have to offer a specific amount of coal for bid, or any person or consortium that wished to develop the resource could ask the board to offer it for bid, both subject to board approval.<br />n <br />nThe State Land Board, which consists of the governor, attorney general, secretary of state, state auditor and superintendent of public instruction, is constitutionally mandated to manage the state school trust lands for their maximum return in the short term and long term. The state acquisition of the Otter Creek Tracts was specifically designated to the school trust lands. <br />n<br />nSchweitzer said the land board "might" offer coal tracts for bid in the near future. But before doing that, he said, he wanted to explore possibilities with companies like General Electric, Shell USA and Exxon/Mobil. The latter two have coal-and-gas-to-liquid fuel projects in China and Qatar.</blockquote> <br />n<br />n"Might" offer? To get this thing going someone needs to get off the pot and do something instead of just talking about it.<br />n<br />nOne other thing about the whole mining/fuel plant scenario being painted here. What makes anybody, including the Governor, think that the <a href="http://www.northernplains.org/">Northern Plains Resource Council</a> will ever allow any mining to happen in the area? They have never met a development plan that they like and I doubt they will this one. They will tie the whole thing up in lawsuits for so long I will be old and gray before they ever turn a wheel to mine any coal. That's the reality, maybe the Governor needs to be meeting with the <acronym title="Northern Plains Resource Council">NPRC</acronym> and the Northern Cheyenne tribe on what can be done so they won't oppose ever step of this process from mining to gasification to making fuel. Then at least the jaw flapping might be doing some good other than to get his name in the media.<br />n<br />n<b>I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is called a disgrace, that two are called a law firm, and that three or more become a congress. Peter Stone</b>