Democratic candidates play up "clean coal"
May 13, 2008

Clean-coal test is a go in Ohio
May 7, 2008

Thanks to an abundance of coal, combined with American ingenuity and advanced technologies, we don't have to choose between affordable energy and improved air quality.

That's right -- electricity from coal is getting even cleaner everyday.

There has never been an environmental challenge facing the coal-based electricity sector for which technology has not provided the ultimate solution. Even as the use of coal for generating electricity has nearly tripled over the past 30 years, emissions from coal-based power plants have been dramatically reduced through the use of advanced technologies. Today's coal-based electricity generating fleet is 70% cleaner than it was in 1970 (based upon emissions per unit of energy produced).

Some people might say that a 70% improvement is a job well-done. We say it is a great start.

The industry has committed itself to even further emissions reductions to eliminate virtually all emissions of pollutants regulated under federal and state clean air laws.

The key environmental question facing the coal-based electricity sector is whether coal can remain a viable part of our energy future even as the U.S. and the world implement programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the energy sector. Technology experts agree, that we'll meet this challenge, and that coal will remain a low-cost energy option in the future even considering the cost of new technologies to capture and store CO₂ - a common greenhouse gas. Technologies to capture carbon at coal-based power plants are already under development, and experts agree that we can safely store CO₂ safely underground - putting the CO₂ back where it came from.