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Clean Coal’s Dirty Truth

by The Green A-Team

Jumbo shrimp, a parkway, pretty ugly, and now clean coal.

Do they think we’re oxymorons?

Talk of clean coal is polluting the air around the climate debate and stifling the discussion of alternative energy solutions.  The fact of the matter is that coal extraction and incineration is a downright dirty process.

Additionally, this buzzword charade is being used by the two Presidential nominees as both a mudslinging tactic and vote generating accelerator.  So what are they really talking about?

It’s basic shorthand for a technology that does not exist.  The idea of carbon dioxide being separated from the exhaust of US coal plants is as likely to succeed as drilling for oil in ANWR will reduce gas prices significantly in 2009.

So while new coal technologies are experimental, the Politically infused notion of clean coal is nothing more than hot air.

For more on clean coal, check out some of the links below.

Clean Coal Technology (Wikipedia)

Presidential Race Runs through the Heart of Coal Country (Market Watch)

Managing Wastes From Coal (World Nuclear Association)

Photo by rtokunaga.

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