King Coal Gets Green Help Down Under

"In a public relations coup for the coal industry," the Australian Coal Association is working with "two prominent environment groups, WWF and the Climate Institute, and the miners' union, to call on the Rudd Government to set up a national task force to develop 'Clean Coal,'" reports Marian Wilkinson. Australia's Green Party and other environmental groups are calling the new alliance "a greenwash for the coal industry over its response to global warming." Greens senator Christine Milne said the government shouldn't give the coal industry more subsidies. "If you believe the polluter should pay, the coal industry is the classic case," she said. "For the last 100 years it had made massive profits at the expense of the atmosphere and the climate and now is the time for them to pay for their own research." WWF's Greg Bourne said his group joined the industry effort because "we need to know quickly" whether "clean coal" technology can work. "If it's not going to work we need to know even more quickly," he added.