Sen. Joe Biden, on the campaign trail, was asked why he supports what is referred to as "clean coal."
This is a bit of a misnomer for the technology of capturing and storing the carbon emissions from coal plants. It's less dirty. But "clean" might not be fair, if you consider the pollution and damage to the planet that occurs when coal is mined.
Biden's answer -- on video from a 1Sky campaigner below -- seems to be that he doesn't support "clean coal," but the U.S. has to develop the technology in order to help clean up China's coal operations.
As ThinkProgress Wonk Room points out, "clean coal" is a part of the Obama/Biden energy and green jobs policy. John McCain also supports "clean coal." Transcript below the video:
WATCH:
TRANSCRIPT:
AUWAERTER: Senator, Senator, wind and solar are flourishing here in Ohio, so why are you supporting clean coal?
BIDEN: Say that again? I didn't hear what you said.
AUWAERTER: Wind and solar are flourishing here in Ohio, so why are you supporting clean coal?
BIDEN: We're not supporting "clean coal." Guess what. China's building two every week. Two dirty coal plants. And it's polluting the United States. It's causing people to die.
AUWAERTER: So will you support wind and solar?
BIDEN: Absolutely. Before anybody did. The first guy to introduce a global warming bill is me, 22 years ago. The first guy to support solar energy is me, 26 years ago. It came out of Delaware. But guess what. China is burning three hundred years of bad coal unless we figure out how to clean their coal up. Because it's going to ruin your lungs and there's nothing we can do about it. No coal plants here in America. Build them, if they're going to build them over there make 'em clean because they're killing you.