Clean coal my foot

If I hear a politician utter the oxymoronic phrase “clean coal” one more time, I will scream! I mean really.

I grew up in West Virginia: good luck trying to tell me there’s anything *clean* about coal. Granted, there is no perfect solution to the world’s energy dilemma, but it really irks me when politicians blatantly greenwash an issue like this.

You want the truth? Solar and geothermal are expensive, wind doesn’t blow all the time, hydroelectric power requires enough water to dam, toxic nuclear waste will remain so for thousands of years, oil reserves won’t last forever… and coal is dirty in both the extraction and burning phases.

However, faced with a growing shortage of fossil fuel resources controlled by volatile governments, I think that renewable energy sources are worth pursuing. It doesn’t matter if you believe in global warming or not. The fact of the matter is that fossil fuels will someday be depleted, and we’d be foolish not to prepare for this inevitability.

I hate politics. That’s my two cents.

More articles about "clean coal"...

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Grist

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Coal is dirty

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