COALITION CALLS ON COAL TO PUT UP OR SHUT UP

One indication of the power gathering around the activists attacking the coal industry is a press release from Bank of America, one of the most powerful financial institutions in the world, announcing the bank will phase out funding for mountaintop removal coal mining.

With that success in hand, The Reality Coalition, comprised of some of the most important U.S. environmental activists (Alliance for Climate Protection, Sierra Club, National Wildlife Federation, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the League of Conservation Voters) launched a new campaign against “clean” coal.

The allure of being able to use U.S. coal reserves (large but by no means unlimited) as a source of power without aggravating global climate change is as obvious as it is – at present – a fantasy.

Even if “clean” coal were a reality, coal-fired electricity generation would still be too environmentally devastating and too expensive to choose as this blessed nation’s preferred way of keeping the high-definition flat screen lit and the iPod charged up.

The facts are these:

(1) “Clean” coal in the U.S. is a hypothesis. Emissions from coal plants have been captured in a few, small-scale U.S. operations and pumped back into old wells to push more oil out but there is no way to do this on a commercial scale and no real certainty the emissions pumped into the ground will remain safely sequestered.

(2) There are 2 test sites for emissions sequestration in the world. Both capture emnissions from burning natural gas, not coal. Norway’s Sleipner operation stores emissions deep under the North Sea. A small scale operation in Algeria pumps emissions deep beneath the desert to enhance the recovery of oil from spent wells.

Even taken all together, these facts barely begin to make a case for “clean” coal.

Brian Hardwick, Alliance for Climate Protection: “The reality is that there’s not a single home or business in America today powered by clean coal… No matter how much they say it in their advertising, coal can’t truly be clean until the plants can capture global warming pollution. With so much at stake, we can’t afford to hang our hats on an illusion.”

Activists forced B of A to back down. All people who breathe are grateful. From djpins2 via YouTube.

Reality Coalition Launches Campaign Debunking “Clean Coal” Myth; Calls on Coal Industry to Live Up to the Promise of So-Called “Clean Coal
December 4, 2008 (The Reality Coalition)

WHO
The Reality Coalition (Alliance for Climate Protection, Sierra Club, National Wildlife Federation, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the League of Conservation Voters); Crispin Porter + Bogusky; Former Vice-President Al Gore, Oscar-winning climate change activist and Nobel laureate;

WHAT
The Reality Campaign is a joint effort from some of the most important environmental groups in the U.S. to further get the word out that “clean” coal does not at present exist as anything but an experiment and the coal industry must either prove that it is real or stop promising it.

This is today’s clean coal technology. From Reality via YouTube.

WHEN
- Some believe commercial use of carbon-capture-and-sequestration (CCS) can be achieved in 1-to-2 decades. Activists argue it is foolish to invest precious revenues CCS for the future when New Energy offers an emissions-free option available for development right now.
- The Reality Coalition’s campaign kicked off December 3.

WHERE
- The RealitytCoalition is a national (U.S.) grassroots and advertising effort. It joins similar activist coalitions throughout the western world.
- Reality ads will appear in print, broadcast and online media.
- Crispin Porter + Bogusky is based in Boulder, Colorado.

WHY
- The impulse behind the coalition’s formation is the misleading advertising from the coal industry implying that “clean” coal is a real option.
- The coalition will spend millions to counteract the coal industry’s misleading ads.
- The coalition’s campaign was designed and produced by Crispin Porter + Bogusky, the agency behind the famously innovative “Truth” anti-tobacco campaign.
- The ads emphasize the facts that there is no “clean” coal, that the coal industry’s “clean” coal advertising campaign is a lie and that coal is single biggest cause of global climate change.
- The ads will also call for New Energy.

The concept is always illustrated with cartoons because something that doesn't exist can't be photographed. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- Brian Hardwick, Alliance for Climate Protection: “If coal really wants to be part of America’s energy future, the industry can start by making a real commitment to eliminating their pollution that is a leading cause of global warming…It is high time for the coal industry to come clean and admit to the American people that today clean coal is not a reality…”
- Former Vice President Gore, from his recent NY Times op-ed: “The coal industry has spent hundreds of millions promoting ‘clean coal’ technology, but in reality, there is not a single large-scale demonstration project in the United States for capturing and safely burying all of coal’s CO2 emissions…The industry must make good on its promise if they truly want to do their part to solve the climate crisis. Until that happens, coal cannot be called ‘clean’.”
- Carl Pope, Executive Director, Sierra Club: “Everyone has a role to play in creating our clean energy future…It's time for the coal industry to stop fighting against efforts to bring about a green economy and instead start living up to its clean coal rhetoric.”