Some Setbacks for Synfuels

Cloudy days for plans to develop alternative energy supplies

Only a year ago, the Carter Administration and Congress were putting the final touches to an ambitious $88 billion program for the development of synthetic fuels. Carter's grand design would have produced the equivalent of 2 million bbl. of oil per day, an amount equal to almost 40% of current petroleum imports, from abundant American supplies of shale and coal. But now there are major doubts about the whole future of synthetic fuels. Some Reagan Administration officials argue that private industry does not need Government...