Green groups take on clean coal claim with new website

THE war of words over "clean coal" technology has escalated with the launch of a new website by US environmentalists proclaiming: "In reality, there is no such thing as clean coal." The site, www.thisisreality.org, is sponsored by prominent US conservation organisations, including the National Wildlife Federation, the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The website links to a spoof video on clean coal showing an engineer walking through a door to a "clean coal facility". It opens onto a windswept empty landscape as he says: "Take a good long look. This is today's clean coal technology."

The Rudd Government is heavily promoting clean coal technology as the answer to the industry's problems with high greenhouse gas emissions. It launched it biggest clean coal initiative last month, setting up a new research institute in Australia at a cost of $100 million a year for the next four years. It is also strongly lobbying the UN to allow countries such as Australia and Japan to offset their greenhouse gas emissions with investments in "clean coal" technology.