Coal is Clean! Get the Real Facts About the Coal Industry

As oil gets scarcer and more expensive, the coal industry is revving up their ad campaigns and propaganda to portray coal as a clean, patriotic energy source. So, when you visit the website Coal-is-Clean.com, you may not be too surprised to see images like that of a young boy in overalls and a cowboy hat waving an American flag, and headlines like ‘The Future of America’s Coal-Based Economy and National Security Depends Upon You’. Sick, right? Well, keep reading.

You may then notice ‘Health Workers for Clean Coal’ and ‘From Coal Mine to Golf Course’. Hmm. Then you’ll see ‘Move over java, it’s time for Hot Coal-Cappuccino!’ and ‘Check out what Dr. Coal has to say about the health benefits of coal for you and your family!’ If you’ve ever read The Onion, you know where this is going.

Click on any of the links on the page and you’re taken to Coal-is-Dirty.com, where everything is suddenly all flip flopped around on you. Coal is Dirty has gathered all of the straight facts about coal energy and put them together on one website where you can get info about how coal pollution is threatening our national parks, negative health effects of coal and how the coal industry has turned the greenwashing dial to 11 to convince Americans that it’s a clean source of energy.

The article ‘Clean Coal = Greenwash’ explains it perfectly. Here’s a snippet:

But in 2008 they are going primetime. Having tapped coal companies and utilities for money, the groups launched a $45 million TV, print and online advertising campaign to re-brand coal as clean and patriotic- trying to greenwash one of the dirtiest sources of energy on earth.

ACCCE’s campaign spin has taken over the election season, blitzing key state presidential primaries with clean coal propaganda in the form of billboards, advertisements and a blue sky painted “Power Van” driven by “volunteers” all over the country to political rallies and debates and loaded with clean coal propoganda handouts, t-shirts, hats etc…

Along with their print ad campaign and billboards, ACCCE paid CNN $5 million to be one of the main co-sponsors of six presidential debates, which gave them saturation advertising during the debates on television and on the CNN webpage. Grist noted the irony that during these debates, no questions have been asked about climate and specifically about coal.

Some startling figures really put it all into perspective. You may not have known that 24,000 people die every year from pollution from coal-fired power plants, or that smokestack emissions from coal fired power plants are the primary source of mercury pollution in the U.S. These are just a few of the facts you’ll find on the Coal is Dirty website, which is a joint project managed by The DeSmog Project, Rainforest Action Network and Greenpeace USA.

Once you’re done reading all of the sobering facts about dirty, dirty coal, check out the video ‘Clean Coal’ for a laugh that might help brighten up your mood a bit. Then pass on the link to everyone you know.

Link [Coal is Clean]

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