Critics of President Barack Obama's landmark regulation to reduce carbon dioxide emissions almost always highlight a series of flawed studies to attack the Clean Power Plan. In fact, many are often paid for by utility or fossil fuel interests.

Today, legislative and lobbyist members of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) voted on model legislation promoting both exports of gas obtained via hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") and vehicles powered by compressed natural gas (CNG).

Okay, it's past Thanksgiving and the election is long over, but a series of ads I saw on television on election night keep playing in my mind. They were about the virtues of coal. Why would such ads stay with me? Let me explain.

Rebranding dirty old coal as "clean coal" doesn't magically make the filth disappear.