Americans for Balanced Energy Choices (ABEC - AmericasPower.org), a group backed by the coal industry, is running a $35 million ad campaign around the United States. America gets 52% of its electricity from coal and the coal industry wants to keep it that way. America is called the 'Saudi Arabia of Coal' because we have so much of it. AAEA supports clean coal technology and believes coal-to-liquid (CTL) technology will be needed to help meet America's transportation fuel needs. AAEA believes it is impractical to put a moratorium on the building of any more coal-fired power plants until the carbon dioxide can be sequestered. Maybe coal should get subsidies similar to those provided to the nuclear industry to convert the carbon dioxide (CO2) from coal plants to gasoline (see AAEA proposal). Regardless, African Americans need to get an ownership stake in this sector.
The coal industry is trying to generate public and political support for coal. It is being reported that the National Mining Association , the coal industry's lobbying group, is boosting it promotional budgets. Of course all of the promotional activity has to do with regulations of carbon dioxide that the industry knows Congress will pass in the coming years. Coal plants emit huge amounts of CO2. Our guess is such regulation will be a cap and trade program similar to the Acid Rain Program for sulfur dioxide.
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