Clean Coal is a Con!

[yourgasm]

Going nuclear is the best way to protect the environment Lee you stupid filthy marxist scum. Get out of my country

[thinkingthingsthru]

Actually burning coal is pretty clean energy. The EPA has monitors aournd coal fired plants. Air modeling based on this sampling and compliance tests where stack gasses are samples(and continuoulsy monitored) demonstrates that burning coal has no adverse effect in the areas. All these environmentalists make claims based on opinions, assumptions and associations. Global Warming caused by man is a myth & opinion.

[TheSolarmike]

Look at how stupid some people are, like "jbanto" below. Coal may have been alright 100 years ago but not today.

[Climatecampwa09]

amen to that! the world doesn't need another stopgap measure designed to greenwash the industry producing 50% of our GHG emissions. Coal is an unsustainable fuel source, period. Renewable energy has a long way to go... instead of investing in a fledgling, untested, finite and dirty resource, research & consumer support of renewable investment is the only path we can walk on.

[grozmo1]

She makes a good and clear point.

And why is it people are happy to accept coal, but don't accept nuclear?

I think it's closed minded to spend billions researching 'clean coal' instead of new tech.

It would be better spent on geothermal or other new technologies and research. (not wind though - it's just a novelty, like bio-fuel)

[ogremeisterdom]

How is it this lady can realize clean coal isn't so clean, yet doesn't realize Man Made Global Warming isn't even the slightest bit proven? In fact there is much more evidence to contradict it. Maybe she should use her powers of perception on everything she talks about.

[cameraperson]

where do we put the unclean stuff they strip from the coal? Clearly the "old dirty coal" isnt the same as the "new clean coal" right? So "dirty" stuff is condensed and stored somewhere, right?

[warriorrabbi]

wtf would u rather lady, have australia spend billions on reinventing the entire energy system, or simply change existing plants to have zero carbon emmisions. renewable energy can provide some energy, but switching to 100% would be ludicrous, and no one would want to pay hundreds of dollars more on electricity each year. geo sequestration is environmentally fine, as the co2 reacts naturally with minerals to form substances such as cac03. coal will continue for at least 30 years longer.

[kb1g]

Carbon Dioxide is not a pollutant. We need greenhouse gases to not freeze. CO2 is not close to the dominant greenhouse gas, water vapor is.

The planet is cooling folks. These are anti industry marxists that must be defeated, It's easy to say "Big Oil" or "Big Coal", like it's a non living thing. Entire states rely on coal for revenue, and coal generates 58 percent of our electricity.

New alert! ALL combusted fuels, including biofuel, emit CO2. We cannot change planetary temps this way.

[junkyardnut]

i just cannot stand those irrational commentaries usually made by experts on TV or Internet.. we are still burning firewood, for heaven's sake!! spewing so much soot and particulates far more than the combined total of all coal powerplants.. Why?? All of our chimneys and stove pipes are not even regulated by EPA. They are just blowholes without any filters or scrubbers or whateve.. Just blow soot and particulates all over the neighborhoods and everyone start wondering why they have allergies..

[803honda]

this guy wants the nazis to regulate our firewood? thats just plain evil.

[junkyardnut]

firewood is evil, evil, evil!!!

[803honda]

lol.

[junkyardnut]

LOL to yourself... You will still need coal to charge your future electric car... Try this with firewood? LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL

[junkyardnut]

Even farmers are burning crops, prunings, you name it... out in the open without any pollution controls.. it is a big joke!! Ranchers do that , too, Billions of us use cowdung, firewood etc for cooking . Coal fired powerplants is getting cleaner and cleaner while firewood hasnt changed one bit..

[junkyardnut]

We will have clean coal eventually, of course.. That is not what you want to hear because you want air pollution to stay.... so you can have something rotten to say to coal for just conversation...

[junkyardnut]

What you dont understand is that fireplaces, woodstoves and charcoal grills is much closer to your lungs than coal fired powerplants... This is the real issue ! not the carbon baloney... Sure carbon is important issue , but the most important issue is your health and your proximity to sources of air pollution.. We are so used to firewood that we keep forgetting that firewood is too close to us for our own good. Too many of us are using it unlike in the long past. Damn too many! Forget firewood

[junkyardnut]

honda dont you know that coal generates one half of America's electricty?  get a life!! your LOLs are just insignificant (bleep)

[junkyardnut]

HONDA

IF YOU WANT COAL OFF YOUR HAIR, sure, why not?  Where do you find to replace one half of the electricty that comes from coal in America... with firewood? LOL!!! WITH SOLAR? LOOOOOOOL!!! Wait one hundred years if it will ever come! I support green energy yet I find it is still mostly talk, talk, talk and little action and too slow in coming.... LOL LOOOOOOL!

[junkyardnut]

The real issue about coal is not dirty pollution, it is trying to keep coal prices from going up too fast. Our green movement hardly put a dent on the inevitable skyrocketing coal prices to come... We are not even doing enough energy conservation... We are all talk, talk , talk, talk, shame talk, shame talk and no action yet too slow in coming... months passes , years passes, economy busts and boom, yet all LOL TALK LOL TALK LOL TALK CHEAP LOL TALK!!

[BCT071]

She is spot on people.Clean coal is no more a reality now than it was 10 years ago.

Solar is clean,wind is clean,tidal is clean and yes even nuclear is clean compared to the plumes of death being belched out of these old world dinosaurs of electricity generation.

Coal belongs under ground until a technology can actually neutralize the carbon being released and not simply pump it into leaky rocks for "storage".

Coal = Global Death.

[smartestmanalive101]

Solar is a joke. The gases it produces is very poisonous and just to make the shit makes way more carbons than just about anything.  wake the hell up solar dorks.

[BCT071]

Soloar on it's own is no solution.Nuclear is the short to medium term solution until technology comes up with the answer.

The threat to life on Earth posed by the runaway increase in greenhouse gases cannot be overstated.

The burning of Coal has been killing us slowly since the beginning of the industrial revolution.

Scientists and politicians know this but only one of those two groups wants to do something about it.

All political leaders should have a science degree.

Scientocracy now!!!

[marxdesign]

So funny since green energy is not a reality either, even less so than clean coal technology. The pot calling the kettle black!

[NH4Dennis]

Actually green energy is ready to fly. It just needs funding to get it going. If we took the subsidies away from oil and coal and gave them too green technologies we'd have the conversion done before coal burning ever becomes clean. Coal is black and so are its furnaces and chimney stacks and the air and water around around the plants...and don't even get me started on the devastation caused by mountain top removal mining.

[rcacad]

People WTF is going on? CLEAN COAL IS NOT AN AIR QUALITY ISSUE,IT IS AN WATER QUALITY ISSUE! Have the ozone discussion all you want. The EPA has NO regulations on the ash dumped into "red pits" and the clean coal strageties only take more out of the smoke and concentrate it in a new form of ash. IT IS TOXIC AS ALL GET OUT! contains almost every toxic heavy metal including arsenic and lead. Entire communities have seen new "unknown" cancers. CLEAN COAL IS NOT POSSIBLE EITHER WAY. wake the f up!

[Maynlander]

What do you get when you drop a chunk of coal in a big bag of money, then shake it real hard? More dirty money & cleaner coal. lol

[bbbfohio]

Plants live off carbon.

Sorry lady, you're a greenhouse gas.

[jotoonkid]

You know, that makes no sense, but its one of the funniest things ive read all day.

[barneyrl]

Ask a plant if Carbon Dioxide is a pollutant. Actually, if you asked a plant, that happened to be a wacky environmentalist, it would say that Oxygen is a pollutant. More CO2 means more happy plants, making more oxygen. It's a great eco-system, designed by a genius.

[jorgedominguez2007]

Clean coal???

Yeah right. First, we get clean nuclear power ads. Then we get clean coal ads. Get ready for the next round: clean petroleum ads. I guess there are millions of unsuspecting gullible people.

[SamuelCyrus]

I know, lets chop down all the trees like they did on the Easter Islands. Or maybe kill all the whales like they were doing before petroleum was found as an alternative to whale oil. No wait. Not enough. Kill all the humans. That's the ticket. I know that China is trying with their abortion remedy but they are not going fast or far enough. But whatever we do, please do not consider new ideas and technologies to make coal (etc.) cleanER every single day even if not immediately pristine.

[Maynlander]

Coal is not a Renewable Resource and when it's gone...IT IS GONE!!! DurrrrHahh for President.....

[barneyrl]

What were you going to save it for?

[Maynlander]

Dont care to save it. It can all frikin burn for all I care but the big question is, what ya gonna use when it is gone???

[Whoo69]

You know something's up when the corporations have lobbyists do their bidding for them in promoting "clean" energy. Lol! Yeah right. Polluter corporations endorsing clean energy??

[blueyarrick]

What the hell would you know lady. What will we all do for a job when you idiots screw up our country. The greens what a joke, should be called the new communist party. At least give clean coal a go, look at the facts and see it could work

[apostolicsingles]

Not to mention it takes energy to power the machines to manufacture these gadgets like wind turbines, solar panels, and mini hyrdo. There's also all the carbon monoxide released into the environment when all these people with jobs at such places commute to work in gas guzzling SUV's. Renewable Energy is a myth and it does not exist.

[sptdonkey]

Yeah, I live in Kentucky, where they call the corporations who rape the land for profit "King Coal."

"Clean Coal" can go fuck itself. Let's see some REAL renewable energy!

[biffdit]

It doesn't hurt to see the development of clean coal technology. Also, as I can tell the government is backing this with their own money to see if it is viable. What are her credentials?

[azane83]

you dont get it fucktard we have ten years to stop climate change, not 20 or 30. Renewables are ready to go, clean coal isnt. If they invent clean coal, well and good. But in the meantime we need to massively cut emissions- immediately.

[biffdit]

I'm not opposed to renewable energy in the least, but there are some problems of producing the infrastructure and making it scalable. In the meantime, a third of our country is powered by coal. I also don't imagine that we are going to change much either, not that I dont want to, but the US have more energy in coal in the Powder River Basin than Saudi Arabia has in oil. By the way, Incovenvenient Truth isn't the most credible source for information.

[goodol69]

Hmmm. Coal is carbon that came from where? Must of been in the ecosystem to begin with at one time. It was carbon life that decayed and was formed into coal. Thank God man is releasing all of this carbon that became trapped underground and caused the last few ice ages. LOL LOL :)

[AndroidSydney]

Who is this woman, whats her name?

[utkonos313]

lee rhiannon nsw green polly. btw if clean coal is a con then Norway will be cheating on thier Kyoto commitments coz they are claiming 50% of thier carbon "reductions" from carbon sequestration.

[utkonos313]

Greens are afraid clean coal might just work. Then we could all enjoy the "extravagances" of clean hot water from a tap and milk in cardboard cartons without feeling guilty. Oh horror, then the Greens won't get our vote! I don't know if clean carbon will work and be cost effective or not. But it is just stupid to ban research into it.

[azane83]

Theyre not proposing to ban it.BHP billiton made $15billion profit last year, coal companies can pay to research it themselves. In the meantime though, public funds should go into r&d and construction of renewables, not subsidising the polluters