The Synthetic Fuels Corporation (SFC or Synfuels Corporation) was a U.S. federal government-funded corporation established in 1980 by the Energy Security Act (ESA) to create a financial bridge for the development and construction of commercial synthetic fuel manufacturing plants, such as coal gasification, that would produce alternatives to imported fossil fuels. With a seven-member board of directors, the corporation received $20 billion in initial funding to be used in joint ventures with private firms, primarily oil and gas companies, to construct plants and help finance coal mines or transportation facilities.[1] It was one of six acts in the ESA legislation.[2]
SFC also researched and promoted the use of alcohol fuels, solar energy, and the production of fuel from urban waste.[1] Over its 6-year existence, the SFC only spent approximately $960 million (barely five percent of its initial 1980 budget) to fund four synthetic fuels projects, none of which survive today. The corporation was abolished in April 1986.[3]
- ^ a b Anthony S. Campagna, Economic Policy in the Carter Administration (Greenwood Press, 1995), 143.
- ^ Energy Security Act (1980; 96th Congress S. 932) - GovTrack.us
- ^ Federal Register: Synthetic Fuels Corporation