"CNN is hosting a GOP presidential debate tonight in California and Democratic one in the state tomorrow. Both are sponsored by Americans for Balanced Energy Choices (ABEC), a coal industry front group. In its past three ABEC-sponsored debates, there have been no questions asked on global warming." (via Think Progress)
ABEC...all about clean coal. "Clean" coal. What a joke.
Here's an ad from them...it's a little eery.
Wow.
I like how the www.americaspower.org website says 'our coal fired generating plants are 70% cleaner'. Cleaner than what?
I also like the map on the 'The Facts' page... if you click around on the various states, anybody that doesn't use (enough) coal gets an 'energy prices high' message. Anybody that does gets 'The XXX state is proud to be powered by coal, has low energy prices.' But of course, that only works... till it doesn't. Try Idaho, which the coal people have labeled an 'unusual' state because it uses almost no coal and still has low energy prices.
More news on the "Clean Coal" campaign. This comes from Hank Green over at Ecogeek. Looks like their pages were loading clean coal ads...needless to say, Hank wasn't so happy. To read his entire letter to the industry, head on over to Ecogeek.
.jpg)
I'm a little bit angry right now. For the last 12 hours, unknown to me, the U.S. coal lobby has been plastering EcoGeek with B.S. ads for their B.S. clean coal campaign. I'm not really a big fan of helping to spread their heifer droppings so I've blocked the campaign.
But this somewhat rash action makes me feel like I owe the coal lobby an explanation. I just know they're all sitting in their basements right now thinking, "Why did EcoGeek block us...we're clean technology...aren't we?!" So, to put their weary little minds to rest, I'll answer them.
|
No...you're not green. You're full of crap.
Your industry turns mountains inside out, poisons the water of the rural poor in America and throughout the world. Your industry has never made an environmental move in its long and storied history without being forced to by a government. The promotional video for 'clean coal' at your lame PR site lauds a carbon sequestration plant that has now been canceled because it was determined to be pretty much impossible. The cleanest coal plants in the world still create more sulfer dioxide than the environment can deal with without acidifying the rain and the soil. |
(the letter goes on...to read the whole thing go here)
I was just reading that Ecogeek entry earlier today. I really enjoyed the letter - well said!
This is a good topic for brain pans to think on. I like the ad that says, 'at a 1/3 of the cost'. I guess if yer only consideration is monetary cost.
The posting on EcoGeek was a nice rant, but really deserves some subjective consideration. It is a monster that has been here for many moons, but the truth is, it's frickin 50% of our power. It's a major industry and it really is a bit biased to just call it this big, faceless, heartless industry. Like many of the things that are not good for us or the environment, it was developed, I'm sure, by people who were seriously trying to harness an energy source for the growing needs of their country. Just like cigarettes, for example, it wasn't known what affects they would have until years later, after most of the damage had already been done, and then it's not so easy to just label the cigarette industry a monster and just expect it to disappear.
John
This is one of the reasons I hate CNN. They are grossly biased. They put out what they want the sheep to hear.
John
