Business: Synfuel Success

Thumbs up for ersatz oil

For over three years Jimmy Carter has been bedeviled in his attempts to have Congress pass a coherent national energy policy. But last week he moved an important step closer to succeeding in the effort. After nearly six months of haggling and bargaining, House and Senate conferees finally agreed to the broad outlines of the third, and in some ways most important, part of Carter's 1979 energy package: a $20 billion program of federally subsidized synthetic fuel plants, plus close to $6 billion in related energy spending.

Even while...