All have thrown their weight behind the proposed $725 million plant in Schuylkill County, helping it win $147 million in state and federal aid.
Arguing that it would help trim the country's reliance on foreign oil, Rich and supporters are now pushing to overcome a chief hurdle in obtaining financing: landing a federal loan guarantee worth up to 80 percent of the project's cost.
Rich's more than decade-long effort to build the coal-to-fuel plant illustrates what it takes to move such a complex project from conception to reality. It is a road paved as much with a need to show a good, viable product as it is about hiring the right people and getting the right political support to get it through a lumbering government bureaucracy.
Some environmentalists and other advocacy groups have charged that proponents with deep pockets and political connections are pushing the project through. Rich, they noted, is a major political donor, having contributed thousands of dollars to Santorum's and Rendell's campaigns, as well as to Asher's political action committee.
But to those deeply involved in the project, the benefits are clear: It would clean up coal waste, create jobs, and establish a new - and secure - domestic fuel source.
"There are hundreds of millions of tons of waste coal here," Rich said during an interview in Gilberton, where he and his family also run a waste-coal power plant, among other ventures.
"We want to take it and produce sulfur-free diesel fuel, and do it domestically, and people say that is environmentally threatening? What can be more environmentally threatening than fighting for foreign oil?"
At a time of rising oil prices, the political benefit is not lost on elected officials.
Santorum on Tuesday began airing a campaign ad touting his work on securing federal money for Rich's project.
