Being a stock holder in a company that makes "scrubbers" for smoke stacks, the whole idea that coal is extremely dirty is bull. The cost of a scrubber is astronomical. But, if the government would require and possibly subsidize their use around the country, rather than letting all these dirty plants still operate, even after passing a "fresh air act"(:sigh:), the cost would surely go down. One draw back is the destruction to the land coal comes from.
Another source of electricity, that not many people know about, is being explored right now. It works on the same basis as a hydroelectric plant, only in the ocean. This would not require the building of reservoirs, destroying habitats, disrupting fish, etc.
Nuclear power is NOT the way to go!!!!