http://www.hcn.org/hcn/blogs/goat/coal-to-liquids-plant-founders

In 2008, Montana was abuzz about a huge clean coal project in the works. The Australian-American Energy Company (AAEC) had agreed to collaborate with the Crow Tribe to build the $7 billion Many Stars coal-to-liquids plant on the reservation. The tribe would provide coal and water, both abundant on tribal lands. The energy company would provide technical expertise and funding. Governor Brian Schweitzer announced his enthusiasm for the project, which would, starting in 2016, produce 50,000 barrels per day of "ultra-clean" diesel, jet fuel and naphtha and employ 900 permanent workers on the reservation. The plant would even, supposedly, sequester its carbon emissions underground to keep them from venting to the atmosphere.

Now, this ambitious plan is unraveling. AAEC has been trying to wriggle out of its promise to build the plant, proposing instead to just mine and sell the coal in the U.S. and Asia. This approach, according to the project website, promises to "provide a faster path to first cash flow with significantly lower capital exposure." Giving up on the coal-to-liquids plant is even more appealing , it continued, considering that "the collapse of global equity markets, the unanticipated development in the United States of vast resources of shale gas, and regulatory uncertainty regarding support of coal to liquid projects, have materially and adversely affected the economic feasibility of the project."