I could be way off base, but would I be silly to think that with potential billions at stake, that the involved entities haven't already comprised a rough plan to address most of these issues? And wouldn't Synfuels, who's perhaps one of, if not the most, significant stakeholder in a venture such as this, have such a vested interest in the success of this project that they would insist on having people on staff such as Project Engineers, Project Managers, various specialists, etc, to support the endeavor at most every stage? And for something like this to even receive the funding necessary to begin to plan, someone would have had to come up with one heck of a business case. Although this isn't a guarantee of eventual success, would it be realistic to think that most of the issues, project risk, potential obstacles, etc, already been addressed (maybe not completely resolved, but at least addressed), on at least a high level??
Just thinking out loud...