Once upon a time, the tobacco industry told us how safe their cigarettes were. Many people believed them. Or, maybe they didn’t question them enough. Either way, they smoked and smoked. Then one day, a few states sued the tobacco industry because they were paying the healthcare costs of smokers. Why? Tobacco as an industry perpetrated a fraud on the US public when they insisted that their product was healthy and did not cause cancer. The result? The tobacco industry settled the case with what’s known as the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement.

There were far ranging consequences:
- The industry now pays medicaid costs to the states, in perpetuity.
- The industry pays for the American Legacy Foundation, which promotes smoking cessation.
- The industry’s documents are available online for anyone to see how they perpetuated their fraud.

All this because they promoted their product as clean…I mean ‘safe’…even though they knew it wasn’t.

Enter Clean Coal

Today, we’re seeing a similar PR campaign from the coal industry called “Clean Coal.” When it burns, coal releases soot. Traveling in many European cities shows the effects of a 100 years of coal: dirty buildings. Indeed, one nickname for London is “The Smoke”.

So the question is: can coal ever be clean, even if it’s cooked to release gas, rather than burned?

The coal industry would like you to think so. If you do, then you’ll support more coal burning electricity power plants–we’re already using coal to generate about half of all the electricity in the US– and possibly federal subsidies for converting coal to a liquid fuel for cars. To help you think their way, they had a presence at both the Democratic and Republican Conventions this past summer. Indeed, some observers see the candidate’s term “Clean Coal” as evidence of the success of the coal industry’s campaign and lobbying efforts.

But, is the coal industry overreaching with Clean Coal? Is it surprising anymore when the CEO of American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, Steve Miller, refers to the coal industry as a “green industry”.

Or, will we look back in 20 years and find that attorney’s general have sued the coal industry for the same reason they sued tobacco?

I see three possibilities for the industry’s campaign:
- the coal industry actually has solved the problem of burning coal cleanly (although, it’s interesting to note that as of today, there are NO carbon sequestration plants in operation).
- the coal industry is ignoring recent history and moving blindly into a position of increased litigation.
- the coal industry is knowingly ignoring recent history and sees litigation as a cost of doing business that will be far outweighed by more coal burning power plants.

The reality is, we’re not going off coal any time soon. Indeed, the electricity industry weaned itself off of oil beginning in the 1970′s so we wouldn’t be shocked by the volatility of oil prices. Coal expanded to fill oil’s place.

The problem with Clean Coal is that it smacks of The Big Lie.

The coal industry is spending money but squandering good will. So what should the coal industry do?
- Get real. Discuss the issues in a straightforward manner instead of greenwashing the discussion.
- Encourage debate with real information. Instead of sniping at other forms of electricity generation because it’s “too expensive,” or, “not reliable enough,” discuss the issues. At this point in the conversation, coal’s ability to be clean sounds almost like wind and solar’s ability to store energy: it’s all on the drawing boards, but there are no utility level working examples. Coal’s cheap now, but what’s it going to cost with carbon sequestration and other forms of improvement?
- Instead of a faux grass roots greenwashing campaign, they should spend their PR dollars encouraging a discussion about energy in general at a local level. How? Many different ideas, including: creating discussion materials for schools and civic groups about energy use in the US; paying for coffee and promoting discussions in coffee houses around the US. Funding an NGO to do the same. Etc. There’s real value in facilitating a real conversation.

While the coal industry can be commended for using social media as a communication medium, more transparency and real debate would go much further in enhancing their credibility than their current efforts. And, it just may keep them out of court.

But I’m no lawyer and this is not legal advice.