Hightower Lowdown

Only a Texas oil guy could take a whiff of a lump of coal and think, Ahhh . . . fresh air. Coal, of course, is about the filthiest fuel we have, but George W. Bush is putting his money (actually, our money) behind an oxymoron called "clean-coal technology."

Coal is to clean energy what a Twinkie is to health food. Yet for the past 15 years, industry lobbyists have squeezed billions of dollars out of us taxpayers to subsidize utilities that build these clean-coal power plants that are only slightly less filthy than the old conventional belchers.

These so-called clean-coal plants spew out 10 times more smog-causing pollutants and twice as much global-warming chemicals as do utilities using natural gas. Bush's national energy plan, however, backs coal over natural gas—his bill triples the industry's subsidy, providing $5.5 billion to encourage the use of coal to generate electricity. As a result, since George has been in the White House, gleeful utility executives have announced that they will build 24 new coal-fired plants across the country.

The result will be dirtier air, more health problems, increased global warming, and more acid rain.

This is the same George Bush who tells us that government should not promote alternative energy because he trusts the "free market" to decide which energy sources are best.