Dirty coal, clean coal, make up your mind

Today EPA trotted out a "proposed" CO2 emission standards for new coal fired generation plants.  1,100 pounds per MWh (megawatt-hour, million watts constant for 1 hour).  Currently most plants cough out 1,800 pounds.  ("proposal", this is not a regulation yet)

The fossil fuel industry runs TV and newspaper adds daily all over the nation preaching about clean coal and the new ways employed to make it good for you and your asthmatic kids, and this isn't the end of it, we see scientist in lab coats and engineers in hard hats are working on an even cleaner future.  Because this is all about you, and spotted cows and puppies and walks in the gentle rain.

But, already the industry and the GOP say this proposal is too much.  Can't be done, too expensive.  So, is it clean coal or not?  Make up your mind.  Either the shit can't be made safe or it can,  you said it can, now you say it can't.

There is a bit of a scam here as well, smoke and mirror smoke, some of the most recent new plants built, and not many have been built in the last 3 or 4 years in the US, produce at around 800 lbs/CO2/MWh.  Whats going on?  Thats lower than EPA wants and the industry says is impossible?  Is the EPA and industry trying to protect some builder of plants that uses old boiler technology so he can still build one more somewhere????  Berry berry curious kemo-sabi!  And what about old plants, some of them are exempt from any and all controls, lets  either put a condom on these or shut them down.