Center for American Progress Finds Clean Coal Advertisement Funding Soaring While Research Lags Behind

American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) has spent an estimated $45 million on an ongoing advertising campaign promoting the clean energy potential of coal, but its members have only invested $3.5 billion on the research that would make the technology a viable solution, a report by the Center for American Progress finds. "The coal companies say they've got a solution and don't want lawmakers to do anything until the solution is ready. But they're not doing much to make this solution a reality," says Daniel Weiss, the center study's author. The coal industry sharply disputes Weiss's figures. The group says it has invested more than $50 billion in emission-reducing technology over the past 30 years and currently has more than 80 projects on clean coal technology underway.  A dam in Tennessee broke last Monday and a 40-acre coal-ash containment pond spilled about 1 billion gallons of slurried ash over 300 acres and destroyed three homes.   Read more in Courier Journal.