New Energy Secretary Likes Clean Coal

President-elect Barack Obama's choice to head the Energy Department told senators that developing "clean coal" technology must be a national priority, as a slew of Cabinet appointments sat for confirmation hearings Tuesday...

...Mr. Chu clarified previous remarks he had made that coal was his "worst nightmare," saying that the nation will have to rely on coal power while it develops alternative energy sources and improves energy efficiency.

"It doesn't mean that you stop everything today," said Mr. Chu, drawing an analogy between the need for coal and nuclear energy, while the nation improves technology for cleaning and disposing of both sources. "It's very much like coal," he said. "We will be building some coal plants, and one doesn't have a hard moratorium on something like that while we search for a way to capture carbon safely. It's very analogous in my mind." (More)