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The other day I wrote a post titled, “Give the gift of Asthma and a Warmer Planet this Christmas” on what might have to be the most blatant pro-coal marketing bafflegab in the history of the United States.

The campaign was run by the coal-industry front group the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricty (ACCCE) and it featured little lumps of coal that sang distateful pro-coal renditions of classic Christmas carols, like this:

As I wrote at the time, “… this latest publicity stunt is absolutely absurd and shows just how far the coal lobby is willing to go to market their dirty product as somehow being clean.

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Did you know that a typical coal power plant in the United States will emit 3.7 million tons of carbon dioxide, 10,000 tons of sulfur dioxide and 10,200 tons of nitrogen oxide this year?

I came across a great “top ten” list assembled by the Union of Concerned Scientists that paints a very clear picture of the major pollutants still being emitted by the US coal power generation industry.

I’ve made it into a static reference page on DeSmogBlog, you can click here to go the page: Facts on the Pollution caused by the US Coal Industry.

You can also download a PDF version of the fact sheet here: Facts on the Pollution caused by the US Coal Industry (PDF Version)

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My post about the World Bank loaning India $450 million to build a new coal-fired power plant prompted a DeSmog reader to ask if I’m “against the idea of a plant that has less pollution than previous ones?”

I’m not opposed to a less-polluting plant. As a committed opponent of global warming and greenhouse-gas emissions, I’m certainly in favor of reducing pollution.

But the plant in question is going to be burning coal.

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The race to coal-fired plants is falling behind the competition as global warming drives the steady shift to more planet-friendly fuels.

About 45 coal-fired power plants were either cancelled or delayed in the past 12 months, according to the US Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory, reversing the craving for coal plants.

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Duke Energy has been approved to build a next generation coal plant that could eventually be fitted with carbon sequestration technology.

The 630 Megawatt plant, which will gasify coal using integrated gasification combined cycle technology. The process separates out regulated pollutants, such as mercury, as well as carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas.

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The Kansas Department of Health and Environment yesterday became the first government agency in the United States to cite carbon dioxide emissions as the reason for rejecting an air permit for a proposed coal-fired electricity generating plant, saying that the greenhouse gas threatens public health and the environment.

The decision marks a victory for environmental groups that are fighting proposals for new coal-fired plants around the country. It may be the first of a series of similar state actions inspired by a Supreme Court decision in April that asserted that greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide should be considered pollutants under the Clean Air Act.