The Dirt on Clean Coal

The Nation by Ari Berman | Mar. 28, 2009 (Special Report)

Critics argue that "clean coal" means anything the industry wants it to, pointing out that of the country's 616 coal plants, none are carbon-free or close to it. The viability of an environmentally sustainable future for coal is questionable, and so is the industry's commitment to cleaning itself up. The Center for American Progress recently released a report showing that the country's biggest coal companies have spent only a fraction of their ... Full Story »

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5.0
 by Gary Clark - Mar. 28, 2009

This argumentative piece begins with the dangers the coal industry imposes on localities and the world at large, It then continues with a rich history of the industry's advertising strategy, and details of the politics, dollars, and personalities at play. The future of coal is unclear and politically turbulent, luring fiscal hawks, and repulsing greens. Clean coal (CCS) is mostly a figment of Big Coal's PR campaign, but it has tremendous appeal as a safe haven for political fence-straddlers.

Many of the PR firms and lobbyists are the very same who fronted for the tobacco companies, and the analogy of clean coal and healthy cigarettes is striking. It is time to give up smoking. Period.

Venners has been hearing about the promise of a pollution-free future for coal since he joined the National Coal Council in 1984.“I’m 61,” he says, “and I will not see zero-emission coal plants in my lifetime.” A friend of his in the coal business recently likened CCS to “a lot of foreplay and no satisfaction.”

Even the insiders don’t believe in Clean Coal.

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