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Show Sin Utah firms apply to synthetic fuel i$nd Seven Utah projects were among the 37 applications received Wednesday in the second round of competition for billions of dollars of goverment subsidies for synthetic fuels. The companies applying for the aid from the Synthetic Fuels Corp. were down sharply from the 63 projects that applied a year ago in the first round of competition. Jeff Burks, sitting coordinator for the Utah Energy Office, said the seven projects are: C&A Companies, a tar sand operation in Grand County; International Hydrocarbons, a tar sands operation in Grand County; International Hydrocarbons, a tar sands-coal gasification operation in Grand County; Paraho-Ute, an oil shale operation in Uintah County; Grand National Corp., a tar sands operation in Carbon County; Magic Circle Corp., an oil shale operation in Uintah County; and two separate oil shale operations proposed by Geokinetics in Uintah County. NO LATER THAN JUNE 1 Mr. Burks said additional Utah projects may still be in the mail. They ' will be considered by the Synthetics fuel Corp. If the postmark on the application is June 1 or before he said. With the exception of Geokinetics, all of the Utah projects applied in the first round of competition and were turned down. Two notable exceptions on the list of Utah companies applying in this round are Tosco Corp. and Syntana. Corporation officials said the sluggish economy was having some impact on the number of companies willing to take the risks needed to build the multimillion-dollar plants to convert coal, oil shale rock, tar sands and other products into liquied and gaseous fuels. Recently, Exxon Corp. sent shock waves through the synthetic fuels industry when it announced it was abandoning, for the time being, efforts to construct the Colony oil shale project in Colorado. Only 14 of the 37 projects seeking money in the second-round competition are totally new. The others were among the 63 who applied last year. Nine of the plants would produce liquid fuels from coal, five would turn coal into synthetic gas, eight of the plants are shale oil projects and nine would extract energy from tar sands. The remaining plants propose to employ a variety of other energy processes. Utah had the largest number of plants with seven, followed by Colorado with four. Both states have large deposits of shale oil. California and Kentucky each had four plants also. Other states with proposed plants are Alabarna, Alaska, Illinois, Massachusetts, Montana, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennslyvania, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming. FIRST-ROUND AWARDS The corporation has yet to disburse any of the $14.8 billion available to spur synthetic fuels development. Five projects out of the initial 63 are still in competition for the first-round awards. Officials said they hope to select winners from those five plants for the first award' between August and October. Those five plants-located in Breckinridge County. Kv.: MeaiDhis. Tenn.; Gillette, Wyo,; Creswell, N.C.and West Pittsburg, UlU.-all asked tobe considered with the 37 other applicants in the second round ;f they are unsuccessful in getting the initial awards. Corporation officials said they were not disappointed in the drop-off in applicants, saying they were not expecting more than 40 projects to apply. |