The tide is shifting in the global warming debate - and not only because sea levels are rising. With the creation of the new House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, President Bush's first mention of "global climate change" in his State of the Union address and a possibly landmark case, Massachusetts v. EPA, pending in the Supreme Court, every branch of the government is finally paying attention.

Among the millions of proposed solutions, clean coal technology has received a disproportionate amount of federal funding and is being heralded as a dream solution that dually limits greenhouse gas emissions and spurs domestic economies. But can these lumps of black gold end America's destruction of the planet? Probably not.

With more than 25 percent of the world's coal reserves, America is often touted as the "Saudi Arabia of coal," making the push toward coal predictable. But while many industries -- such as the auto industry - have recognized the groundswell of support for emissions reductions and moved toward more efficient production, the coal industry has been the exception. There are no commercial clean-coal plants under construction, and of the 100 plans for new plants in 2007, none are clean coal. Only with astronomical tax incentives and federal funding will production of a functional clean-coal plant begin in 2009.

There's reason to believe the coal industry isn't serious about carbon dioxide emissions and only federal handholding can drag it along. In fact, many believe production timelines on new coal plants are being stepped up in hopes that already completed plants will be exempt from carbon emission standards. For example, the Texas-based TXU Corporation recently began construction on 11 new coal plants, the largest project of its kind in history. With 50 percent of America's electricity already coming from coal and with that number expected to increase to 57 percent this year, all the global warming press is translates into surprisingly little action.

However, for all the faults of the coal industry, there is some hope for clean coal as an intermittent alternative that can protect dependent state economies. In states like Montana, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, where coal is an integral part of the economy, clean-coal technology can be used to bring in revenue to wean them from coal - thereby avoiding a scenario similar to Michigan's dependence on the auto industry.

Perfecting clean-coal technology can also offer developing countries with large reserves of coal an inexpensive, efficient method for reducing emissions. With coal emissions accounting for more than 40 percent of global emissions, American innovation can bring awareness and change to a global problem that might otherwise be overlooked.

The important thing to remember about clean coal is that it isn't the end-all solution to our global warming problem. As Dan Becker of the Sierra Club put it: "There is no such thing as 'clean coal' and there never will be. It's an oxymoron." What clean coal represents is a transition process that can bridge the gap between fossil fuels and emerging renewable energy.

Gary Graca can be reached at gmgraca@umich.edu