The Coen brothers, who won Academy Awards for “Fargo” and “No Country for Old Men,” have turned their sardonic sights on the coal industry.
Joel and Ethan Coen directed a TV commercial attacking the notion that coal can be an environmentally safe way to produce electricity.
About 600 coal-burning plants supply nearly half the nation’s power, but critics say coal is a major contributor to global warming.
The commercial, which began airing Thursday on cable TV channels, plays like an air freshener ad. A smiling pitchman extolls the virtues of a black spray can labeled “clean coal.” But when a suburban housewife uses it, the can spews a black cloud that gives her family coughing fits. The ad ends with the line, “In reality, there’s no such thing as clean coal.”
“We were excited to be part of this important project and tell another side of the ‘clean’ coal story,” the Coens said in a statement.
The commercial was produced by a consortium of five environmental groups called the Reality Coalition, which was formed last year to counter promotional efforts by a coal industry trade group.
The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity has spent $18 million on TV commercials promoting the industry’s use of pollution-control equipment and arguing that coal can be a clean, cheap and abundant fuel.
“Meeting America’s growing energy demand … is going to require the use of all energy technologies,” spokesman Joe Lucas said. “Technology has made coal a cleaner energy option.”
TikTok’s Fate Arrives At Supreme Court; Arguments Center On Free Speech and National Security
In one of the most important cases of the social media age, free speech and national security collide at the Supreme Court on Friday in arguments over the fate of TikTok, a wildly popular digital platform that roughly half the people in the United States use for entertainment and information.
TikTok says it plans to shut down the social media site in the U.S. by Jan. 19 unless the Supreme Court strikes down or otherwise delays the effective date of a law aimed at forcing TikTok's sale by its Chinese parent company.
Working on a tight deadline, the justices also have before them a plea from President-elect Donald Trump, who has dropped his earlier support for a ban, to give him and his new administration time to reach a "political resolution" and avoid deciding the case. It's unclear if the court will take the Republican president-elect's views — a highly unusual attempt to influence a case — into account.
TikTok and China-based ByteDance, as well as content creators and users, argue the law is a dramatic violation of the Constitution's free speech guarantee.
"Rarely if ever has the court confronted a free-speech case that matters to so many people," lawyers for the users and content creators wrote. Content creators are anxiously awaiting a decision that could upend their livelihoods and are eyeing other platforms.
The case represents another example of the court being asked to rule about a medium with which the justices have acknowledged they have little familiarity or expertise, though they often weigh in on meaty issues involving restrictions on speech.
The Biden administration, defending the law that President Joe Biden signed in April after it was approved by wide bipartisan majorities in Congress, contends that... Read More