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Canwest Newspaper reported late last week that new documents have been uncovered showing a pro-industry bias in Government of Canada studies on the environmental and economic impact of Alberta’s tar sands projects.

According to Canwest:

“Officials from Environment Canada who reviewed the original package, warned that it reflected the views of oil companies instead of the facts.

“The package should deliver neutral, balanced and factual information,” said the analysis. “Currently, much of the language is too pro-industry, and would make the government to be perceived as bias and thus not credible or serving the public good.”

Want the facts on the Alberta Oil Sands? Check our Top 10 Facts About the Alberta Oil Sands  section.

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The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (bought and paid for by the coal industry) was stumping its "clean coal" message in Huntington, West Virginia last week. If you aren't already skeptical about the notion of so-called clean coal, then check out this less-than-hopeful message from clean coal spindoctor Cathy Coffey:

We believe that technology within the next 10 to 15 years will be developed and tested so that we will be able to produce near-zero emission-free electricity from coal." (My emphasis).

The message is carefully crafted and the "10 to 15 years will be developed and tested" message is subtle enough to be passed right over. The clean coal message might even leave you feeling a little hopeful.

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Both Clinton and Obama are stumping for "clean coal" up and down the coal State of West Virginia today.

And both Presidential hopefuls include the capture and storage of "clean coal" greenhouse gas emissions in their policy platforms.

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Have you been feeling a little cynical about the "clean coal" lobby's claims that we can simply and neatly bury our greenhouse gas emissions and forget about them?

A comprehensive, in-depth report was released yesterday by Greenpeace International called "False Hope: Why Carbon capture and storage won't save the climate." The bottom line, as I've written here on DeSmog before, is that the timeline is just too long for Carbon Capture and Sequestration to have the desired affect on greenhouse gas emissions.

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They say, "Don't worry that burning coal releases more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than any other fuel source . We'll soon 'sequester' that stuff: we'll bury it in the ground."

How soon?

Burying the carbon produced from the burning of coal, so called Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS), isn't as simple as the coal advocates would have us think. At the rate CCS technology is being developed, Richard Branson will have figured out how to send tourists to Moon before we see anyone storing significant amounts of carbon under our feet.