That didn’t take long. As a Nobel Prize winning scientist, Steven Chu has been a fierce and consistent critic of coal. He’s on the record last year saying
“„The United States actually has the most known coal reserves in the world, and over 50 percent of our electricity is generated by coal. Even if the United States turns its back on coal, China and India will not, given the state of affairs. I would prefer to say let’s try to develop technologies that can get a large fraction of the carbon dioxide out of coal. Start with 70, 80 percent and build up to over 90 percent, but start now and try to get it out.