A Different Take on Obama and Clean Coal. Could He Be Right?

If you’re a greenie like me, you probably got a little steamed up at Joe Biden going on and on about his tickets support for Clean Coal during the recent Vice Presidential Debates (which Tina Fey nails perfectly, again). The term “Clean Coal” is bullshit- even if you could suck up all the emissions from burning coal, you’d still be left with the gaping scars and missing mountains removed to get at the black stuff.

My buddy and Green Blogger badass Kevin Grandia runs a brilliant parody site at http://coal-is-clean.com/ (any click takes you to http://coal-is-dirty.com) and has done a lot to get the word out about the downsides of coal. I’ve done enough reading to know that a lot of the support for the boondoggle that is Clean Coal comes from the coal and power industries who have massive financial stakes in the dirty status quo.

But I also know that most of the worlds energy comes from coal and that it’s not going to be easy to change outside a few decades work. With an Obama win in November we’ll get the ball rolling on getting serious about solar, wind, geothermal, and muppet power, but in the meantime it makes sense to develop technology that can mitigate the emissions side of coal’s negative environmental impact.

Joseph Romm wrote a great article over at Gristmill about why it’s important to work on Clean Coal, or as he prefers to call it, “Coal with Carbon Capture and Storage (also coal with CCS). He also defends Obama’s position on coal with CCS as a smart and balanced.

What precisely does Obama’s energy plan say about what kind of investment he and Biden would make in clean coal? Here is every mention in his energy plan:

Invest In A Clean Energy Economy and Help Create 5 Million New Green Jobs. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will strategically invest $150 billion over 10 years to accelerate the commercialization of plug-in hybrids, promote development of commercial scale renewable energy, encourage energy efficiency, invest in low emissions coal plants, advance the next generation of biofuels and fuel infrastructure, and begin transition to a new digital electricity grid. The plan will also invest in America’s highly-skilled manufacturing workforce and manufacturing centers to ensure that American workers have the skills and tools they need to pioneer the green technologies that will be in high demand throughout the world. All together these investments will help the private sector create 5 million new green jobs, good jobs that cannot be outsourced …

Develop and Deploy Clean Coal Technology. Carbon capture and storage technologies hold enormous potential to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions as we power our economy with domestically produced and secure energy. As a U.S. Senator, Obama has worked tirelessly to ensure that clean coal technology becomes commercialized. An Obama administration will provide incentives to accelerate private sector investment in commercial scale zero-carbon coal facilities. In order to maximize the speed with which we advance this critical technology, Barack Obama and Joe Biden will instruct DOE to enter into public private partnerships to develop 5 “first-of-a-kind” commercial scale coal-fired plants with carbon capture and sequestration.

That’s it. He has committed to pursue R&D and then have five commercial scale pilot plants. Almost everything else in this detailed 8-page plan focuses on renewables and energy efficiency. And his climate plan is equally detailed about his commitment to sharp reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

So don’t freak out Obama nation, there might just be a middle of the road take on Clean Coal and it looks like Barack is just tacking that way. And let’s not forget, a McCain/Palin presidency would be a disaster for the environment.

What do you think?