In the second United States presidential debate, held previously this week, a member of the audience asked both candidates the question of how they would meet the country's growing energy needs, while minimizing both job losses and the environmental impact. In response to this important question, each candidate addressed their proposed energy policies. And this is when Donald Trump stated: "We need much more than wind and solar... There is a thing called clean coal. Coal will last for a thousand years in this country."
     However, the real question remains: is there such thing as clean coal? Clean coal is the process of capturing and storing the carbon dioxide that is released by coal burning power plants before it is emitted into the atmosphere. An interesting idea - however, at this time that is all it is. The reality of clean coal being that it has not yet been done successfully at a large scale anywhere in the United States. And most clean coal projects that have been instated in the United States have ended in failure, mainly due to financial difficulties. For example, most recently the Southern Company's Kemper clean coal plant in Mississippi is yet to be operational, and the company is once more delaying the project due to an increase in projected costs. The plant has already cost nearly seven billion dollars, which is nearly four billion dollars over budget. And millions of those dollars were grants from the federal government.
     The facts behind the current state of clean coal projects is in total contradiction to the claims made by Donald Trump during the presidential debate. He failed to brief the audience on the fact that there are no major clean coal plants anywhere in the United States that are operational however, I do not believe that his supporters took the time to verify his claims and chose instead to take his word for truth. And overall, clean coal plants, if operated successfully, hold little promise in the fight against climate change and are unlikely to help bring back lost coal jobs.