Coal can’t really be  “cleaned up” though many companies are busy telling us that it’s possible.  Even if CO2 is sequestered underground, eventually the CO2 will probably escape, so all the expense will be for nothing, over time.  And if it escapes, there is no point in doing it. Carbon capture is very, very expensive.  The best thing to do would be to stop using coal, considering all the hundreds of people around the world that die from it each year.  Carbon Capture projects are up, even though coal causes hundreds of deaths per year just from mining operations, not including the toxins and mercury it spews into the atmosphere. “The number of projects for capturing greenhouse gases from power plants and factories edged up in 2010 despite soaring costs and slow progress in U.N.-led efforts to slow climate change, a study showed on Tuesday. The focus of carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects also shifted more to the United States from Europe even though U.S. President Barack Obama has failed to persuade the Senate to legislate caps on U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, it said. The Global CCS Institute said 234 CCS projects were active or planned worldwide at the [...]