Guest Poster: Bruce Nilles, Sierra Club National Coal Campaign Director
If you watched the television ads before and after last week's presidential debate, you probably noticed something.
Coal -- a lot of it. In an attempt to buy public approval, the dirty-coal industry is conducting a major advertising blitz during the presidential debates. But we're not letting them get away clean-handed -- the Sierra Club is keeping them accountable by monitoring their ads for "bogus coal moments" where they attempt to spread misinformation.
"Dirty." "Obsolete." "Detrimental." "Not the answer."
These are some of the words people texted from their mobile phones when we asked them to respond to coal ads that aired during the presidential debate last Friday.
Check out all the comments people made and sign up to let us know what you think about the next wave of ads during the next debate.
The coal industry knows that we want a clean energy economy that secures low energy costs for our families without polluting the environment. They know that dirty coal does not fit into this future, which is why they are spending tens of millions of dollars on slick advertising during the presidential debates.
Last Friday, we saw TV and on-line ads from the coal industry on several stations touting "clean coal'" as the way forward. Tomorrow, and during the next two debates, we will see a lot more of the same.
Clean coal? Cheap coal? We know nothing could be further from the truth. "Clean coal" is an unproven technology and a distraction from serious investment in real solutions like wind and solar energy. Coal is rising in cost and becoming unviable as a future energy source.
We need to move beyond coal so we can move forward by investing in a clean, efficient energy economy that creates jobs here at home, saves families and businesses money, provides energy security, and combats global warming.
Check out what people across the country are saying about coal and sign up to receive alerts when the coal industry's sham ads air again during the next debates.
Together, we can hold the coal industry accountable.
