Montana's Coal Cowboy knows what to do

Kos is a big fan of this guy. And I like everything I read about him too: Montana's Coal Cowboy:

While the president spent much of last week promoting energy alternatives of the future, like hybrid cars and fuels made from wood chips, the governor of Montana, Brian Schweitzer, says there's something we can have up and running in the next five years.

What he has in mind is using the coal, billions of tons of it, under the high plains of his home state. The governor tells correspondent Lesley Stahl he wants to use an existing process to turn that coal into a synthetic liquid fuel, or synfuel.

The plan is controversial, but Gov. Schweitzer — half Renaissance man, half rodeo cowboy — seems ready for the challenge. In fact, he sounds like he’s ready to take on the world.

China isn't sitting around, waiting for market conditions to force their hand. They're sinking $15B into coal-to-liquids fuel technology now, with output coming on-line by 2007. Current investments will generate %5 of all demand, and %10 of imports from CTL projects that are in progress.

Schweitzer is a visionary. He is getting out in front of something we desperately need to be doing now. Look for him to be a player in Dean's 50-state strategy for revitalizing the Democratic party.