Washington (Platts)--23Sep2008

The politics of "clean coal" took center stage in the US presidential race
Tuesday, as supporters of Senator John McCain, the Republican candidate,
seized on a coal-related comment by Senator Joseph Biden, the Democratic
vice-presidential nominee.
Biden, at a campaign stop in Ohio on Monday, was asked by a young
environmental activist why he and Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic
presidential nominee, are supporting "clean coal" instead of wind and solar
power.
"We're not supporting clean coal," Biden told the activist, in an exchange
that was captured on YouTube and circulated widely on the Internet. His
comment conflicts with presidential candidate Barack Obama's written policy
statement on the campaign web site.
Biden went on to say that China is building two "dirty coal plants" every
week, and that the pollution from the country's coal plants is sickening and
killing people in the US. "No coal plants here in America," Biden told the
activist. "If they're going to build them ? make them clean, because they're
killing you."
McCain supporters expressed outrage over the comments Tuesday, saying they
demonstrate that Biden and Obama would devastate the coal industry if they win
the race for the White House in the November election.
Scott McInnis, a former Republican congressman from Colorado, said Obama and
Biden would "wipe out" small communities in Appalachia and the West that are
dependent on coal mining.
"It was a comment that could have devastating results," McInnis told reporters
in a conference call.
George Allen, a former Virginia governor and US senator, echoed that view.
Allen said Obama's call to "tax dirty energy like coal" would hurt US the US
economy.
"We could export this clean-coal technology," Allen said. "Since we're the
Saudi Arabia of the world when it comes to coal, we ought to be using it."
Obama, in fact, called for the US to develop and deploy clean-coal technology.
On his web site, Obama says he would "enter into public private partnerships
to develop five 'first-of-a-kind' commercial scale coal-fired plants with
clean, carbon-capture and sequestration technology."
But McCain supporters scoffed at that claim Tuesday, saying Obama and Biden
are not being consistent when it comes to coal. "They?re saying one thing in
front of a large group, but when they're asked their true feelings, that's
when we hear their attacks against coal," said Shelly Moore Capito, a
Republican congresswoman from West Virginia.
The McCain campaign said Tuesday that it would launch a "Coalition to Protect
Coal Jobs," a nationwide group including members of Congress, state government
and other influential leaders. The coalition will help spread the message
about the importance of clean coal technology and the advantages of tapping
the country's vast coal reserves, the campaign said.