Synthetic Fuels Corporation

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] 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.

[4] Congress authorized over 12 years funding of $88 billion plus $35 million in annual administrative expenses (adjusted for inflation) for the SFC, with a maximum of three hundred full-time professional employees.

[6] Pursuant to the ESA, the corporation had to issue its first solicitation for synthetic fuel projects by the end of December 1980; the proposal deadline was set for March 31, 1981.

[8] Industry lobbyists in Washington formed the National Council on Synthetic Fuels Production headed by Walter Flowers, a former Alabama congressman.

Edward Noble, a real-estate developer from Atlanta with roots in the Oklahoma oil business, was a large financial backer of The Heritage Foundation, which was very supportive of Reagan and paid the salaries of several SFC transition team members.

Finally, in February 1982, Reagan issued Executive Order 12346 proclaiming the SFC operational and officially open for business.

In May, Reagan appointed two additional SFC board members, John Carter and Milton Masson, who were not sworn in until August.

99-190 which terminated SFC authority to award new financial assistance and set a 120-day time limit left to transfer projects to the Treasury department and to shut down.