Congress in 1980, the Synthetic Fuel Corporation subsidizes private companies producing synfuel (e.g., oil from shale and tar sands). Its annual budget: $8 billion. But despite the subsidies, today's temporary oil glut has rendered current synfuel technology uneconomi- cal. Many private companies have closed down their synfuel plants. What was needed all along, Landsberg argues, was federal financing for research-and-development efforts.
Washington has enjoyed a few successes. The Strategic Petroleum...