If you want to understand why America burns so much coal, spend a few minutes over at the lobbying disclosure website run by the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives (all numbers cited below are from the website).

"Clean coal" is not an actual invention, a physical thing – it is an advertising slogan. Like "fat-free donuts" or "interest-free loans."

Several years ago, in Gillette, Wyoming, I fell into a long conversation with the vice-president of alarge American coal company about coal's public image problem. Gillette is inthe center of the Powder River Basin, the epicenter of the coal boom in America, where 60 foot seams of coal lay just below the surface.