Last week, the RNC released its draft platform, and declared coal “an abundant, clean, affordable, reliable domestic energy resource.”

Tell that to the communities devastated by toxic coal ash waste, like Kingston, Tennessee where 1,100,000,000 (yes that’s 1.1 *billion*) gallons of toxic coal ash sludge destroyed 40 homes and polluted the Emory and Clinch rivers, forever.

Tell that to the millions of US citizens affected by the smog and acid rain caused by coal burning every year.

Tell that to the people who live next to coal-fired electricity plants generating millions of tons of CO2, thousands of tons of sulfur dioxide, hundreds of tons of carbon monoxide, thousands of tons of coal ash waste, and hundreds of pounds of arsenic, lead and other heavy metals.

I don’t know what planet the RNC is living on, but it’s not this one. Maybe they’ve discovered a new planet where coal really is clean, and we can all move there, since we’ve messed up this one so much.

This image by Earl Dotter is of coal miner Lee Hipshire, who died at 57 of black lung disease after working in the coal mines of West Virginia for 26 years.