By Craig Rucker

June 29, 2020 - Should America be shutting down its clean coal energy while the rest of the world is doubling down on dirty brown coal?

China and India are saying what they have to say to keep in line with the climate narrative, while at the same time opening new coal plants as fast as their economies will allow.

Even Germany has become ever more reliant on coal to cover Angela Merkel's foolish decision to move away from nuclear energy to appease the anti-nuclear arm of the Green movement.

As the world began to industrialize, there were many problems in pollution and air quality stemming from massive coal use. Thanks to technological advancement and improvements in clean air laws, however, coal energy is much cleaner and efficient today.

Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette lays out the facts at CFACT.org:

As for coal’s environmental footprint, coal-fired electricity generation is now cleaner than ever…a new coal plant with pollution controls reduces nitrogen oxides by 83 percent, sulfur dioxide by 98 percent, and particulate matter by 99.8 percent compared to plants without controls.

And while the Left would have you believe that all fossil fuels must be forcibly replaced with so-called renewables immediately, Secretary Brouillette explains that intermittent wind and solar cannot be relied upon to take over the entire energy grid:

What happens to renewables when the wind does not blow or the sun does not shine? Contrast that with the rock-solid reliability of coal, which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and 365 days a year. In fact, during the 2019 polar vortex, coal was critical for heating homes in many of the affected areas of the nation.

And the good news is that America’s coal is as abundant as it is reliable. The United States has more coal than any other country, 474 billion short tons of it, enough to last for hundreds of years.

America is today more energy independent than it has been in generations.  There are myriad forces opposed to that, whether it be climate ideologues, anti-capitalists, wind and solar investors, but by no means least, our energy competitors.

Maybe the reason so many are attacking America's coal energy is that it keeps us free and makes us powerful.