Clean My Foot! No, I Mean Clean My Foot.

Hey, have you heard the latest from the oil companies? Well, okay the price of oil has just dropped below $100. But no, I'm talking about the "clean" oil they're beginning to tell us about. Now, when have they ever mentioned that their product isn't clean?  Right now they're talking about oil sands. It's actually tar in sand buried in the ground. To get it out, you dig it up. When you dig it up, some is going to spill out on the surface. And if you pay close attention, they're really saying that they can make it as clean as the regular stuff. Which isn't all that clean. Otherwise why would they say they can make it as good as? So, this stuff must be a lot dirtier. Well of course it is. It's tar. Have you ever heard that kind of blarney before? Yep. King coal. Coal companies are always saying they can make coal clean. They haven't yet. Neither have the oil companies. So, why isn't it clean? I mean either one of them? Because there's a whole lot of poisons in them. I don't mean to suggest that it can't be done. In fact, I'm certain that they can remove the poisons from both coal and oil.  Trouble is, whatta ya do with the poisons after you take them out of the fuels? I mean it's not like you can wrap it in a dirty diaper and put in the garbage. We're talking about millions of tons, based on the consumption of oil and coal in this country. We haven't even figured out how or where to dispose of spent nuclear fuel yet. Look at it this way, if you take a clean bottle and you pour in a cup of ink, that's one thing. You can pour the ink out and wipe the bottle clean. But you still have the ink.  No matter where you put it, it still shows up as a stain.