Clean coal anyone?

In President Obama's address to congress last night he laid out an ambitious plan for economic recovery--a plan that included both short term and long term fixes. It was gratifying to hear the president talk about health care, education, and (most importantly) energy. He seems committed to alternative sources, namely wind, solar, and biofuels. Just when I was nodding in agreement (and thinking "Yes. Go, dog, go!), he uttered that euphemistic, spirit-sinking noun phrase "clean coal." What's more, he uttered it in series with true alternatives such as wind and solar. Perhaps he's just giving lip-service to the coal industry and his real plans exclude investing billions in the dirty rock that's been the root cause of so much ecological and human tragedy. But I'm not so sure. Is he serious? Does he honestly believe in the fairytale that is "clean coal?" Doesn't he see "clean coal" for what it really is--a billion dollar rebranding of the culprit as the hero? If he is serious about clean coal, not just classifying it along with other sustainable alternatives but actually pursuing the development of clean coal technology, he's not the candidate of "change" that I (and millions of other Americans) thought he was because clean coal equals more of the same for the coal industry. In fact, the coal industry will have a progressive stamp of approval to continue obliterating Appalachia--its mountains, its streams and rivers, and, most tragically, its communities. Just because the industry claims it's going to sequester carbon and produce a cleaner burning coal doesn't mean they're going to enact cleaner methods of extraction. Clean coal offers the industry a green light, not only to continue leveling Appalachia, but to hasten their efforts. Think of the pressures the race for clean coal will exert on regulatory agencies. They'll be pressured to make the mine-permitting process as "snag-free" as possible, because, after all, the coal industry represents an alternative energy. This is a scary, scary proposition, and I wish Obama would stop endorsing what we all know to be a lie--clean coal.