the This Is Reality – Come Clean on Clean Coal Campaign: There is no such thing as “clean”coal
This Is Reality|these are The Facts
Increased public awareness of the threats posed by global warming, along with new evidence that significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions must be made soon, before global “tipping points” are reached, have made it difficult to build new coal-burning power plants. Since mid-2007, plans for 82 coal plants across the United States have been cancelled, abandoned or placed on hold.
The coal industry responded by ramping up its public relations and marketing efforts. Americans for Balanced Energy Choices (ABEC), an industry front group formed by coal, mining, electric and railroad companies, nearly quadrupled its budget for PR, advertising and “grassroots” organizing, from 2007 to 2008. ABEC sought to influence the U.S. presidential election with a $35 million campaign touting “clean coal” in key primary and caucus states. The front group paid CNN $5 million, for advertising and co-sponsorship of at least six presidential debates. ABEC also paid people to walk around “as human billboards” outside the January 2008 Democratic debate, handing out leaflets “with questions for voters to ask the candidates.”
ABEC — since renamed the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) — also increased its lobbying efforts. It opposed the Lieberman / Warner climate change bill, seeking allies by misrepresenting itself to grassroots activists as an environmental group with no industry ties. During the first half of 2008, ABEC / ACCCE spent $4.7 million on federal lobbying, “more than any other organization … devoted exclusively to influencing climate change legislation,” reported the Center for Public Integrity.
Former vice-president and climate change activist Al Gore recently criticized “clean coal,” calling it “too imaginary to make a difference in protecting either our national security or the global climate.” However, President-Elect Barack Obama lists as one of his administration’s energy goals to “develop and deploy clean coal technology.”
article text from The Center for Media and Democracy’s Sourcewatch.org
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