Fossil Fuels: Coal
The story: abundant, cheap, coal is the path to energy independence and a replacement for gasoline.
The reality: overstated reserves, the dirtiest fossil fuel (by far), and powerful lobbyists.
Coal site at the U.S. EIA (Energy Information Agency): Mostly U.S. but also world data.
All About Coal: Teachers' site at the American Coal Foundation has plenty of information about coal, presented with a distinctive pro-industry bias.
Leveling Appalachia: Award-winning sort (20 min) film about mountain-top removal, coal mining, the EPA, electricity, and you (assuming you use electricity). Recommended.
Richard Heinberg, Blackout (2009): Country-by-country analysis of coal reserves, insights into climate-coal relationships, and sobering projections for the future. Highly recommended.
U.S. coal reserves: Heinberg analysis from which Blackout (above) developed (June 2008). "Coal currently looks like a solution to many of America's fast-growing energy problems. However, this solution, if applied on a broad scale, seems certain to exacerbate the nation's energy dilemma in the long run, and to contribute to an impending global climate catastrophe."
Clean Coal: A Dead End? Heinberg article (Dec 2009) concludes that "clean coal" tech will be too expensive as a "solution" to future energy and climate concerns.
U.S. coal reserves overstated? Post and discussion at The Oil Drum, Feb 2009.
World coal reserves overstated? Wired, Dec 2008 (interviews Prof. Dave Rutledge).
The Great Coal Hole, David Strahan (New Scientist, Jan 2008): Whoa....perhaps those coal reserves aren't nearly as abundant as typically reported. Recommended.
Dave Rutledge on coal reserves: Within this hour-long talk, DR examines coal reserves and suggests they have been overstated (his ideas are summarized in Strahan's article above).
Jeff Goodell: Big Coal(2007): Clear-eyed account of the pros and cons of coal as an energy source. Recommended.
The Chinese Coal Monster: Discussion of statistical coal data—consumption, production, import, export—with extraordinary results from China (The Oil Drum, July 2010).
Cheap Coal: National Geographic, March 2006
Feasibility of carbon capture from coal plants: Earth, April 2009
Coal-to-liquids: Can fuel made from coal replace gasoline? Should it be? (Earth, April 2009) Realistic analysis of CTL's viability, drawbacks, and prospects.
FutureGen: Billed as "the world's first near zero-emissions coal-fueled power plant," this Bush-administration project has been tabled, pending commercial involvement.
Clean Coal USA: Home of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity. Their goal? "America can have the affordable, reliable electricity we need....with the clean environment we want." The "need" and "want" verbs clearly define the coal industry's priorities (imagine that sentence with those verbs interchanged).
Clean Coal: 1.5-minute YouTube video