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Environmentalists question coal's place in Obama policy
President Barack Obama, a longtime believer in "clean coal," is launching an ambitious and expensive plan to help the energy industry lock climate-changing gases from coal-fired power plants deep underground.
"If we can develop the technology to capture the carbon pollution released by coal, it can create jobs and provide energy well into the future," the president said in February at a meeting with Republican and Democratic governors, including those from coal-mining states.
The idea, which has been around for years, is a key part of Obama's plan for building a diverse mix of power sources–including more nuclear energy, oil and natural gas drilling and renewable energy–while also putting the country on a path to an 80 percent reduction in emissions of heat-trapping gases by 2050.
On the face of it, making the nation's abundant supply of coal less polluting is alluring. Keeping coal in the energy equation preserves jobs, and a way of life.