Research and Development into CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) is other than “replacing all coal as quickly as possible with renewable energy.” Chooster has been quoted as saying “the U.S. should invest in technology to reduce the carbon produced by burning coal, but he said it will take at least eight years to be sure such systems work.”

8 years. Isn’t that about what the consensus was on the window. Face it, coal has won, baby!

Now I’m sure with the depth of your experience in utilities you can state a belief that the way it will go down will be “Anyone interested in building such a plant can either figure out how to make carbon capture and storage work or forget about building their plant.” My naive assumption is that your use of the verb, “figure”, equates to theoretical pencil whipping, rather than actually using proven methods, properly building AND maintaining such systems, and concurrent careful monitoring to ensure compliance that is well enforced by the EPA (Business Protection Agency).

And, everything else about coal remains copacetic, eh?

Wow! It must be hard to maintain your cheerful disposition when you’re the sort of person who takes a post referring people to Joe Romm’s blog and twists it into a plug for clean coal.

Go read the original posts, and spend some time at Climate Progress. One of Romm’s chief positions is that the US should not – starting now – construct a single new coal-fired power plant unless it can meet stringent standards on emissions. Anyone interested in building such a plant can either figure out how to make carbon capture and storage work or forget about building their plant.

Sheesh. Even this post says explicitly, “the basic strategy is to replace all coal as quickly as possible.”

Welcome to the Anthropocene! Abandon all hope for life on the planet as we know it.