Eastern Washington is fortunate to have abundant clean energy, from the dams to the wind & solar. I also include nuclear power in there for its non emission advantages. But, I have to smile a little whenever someone mentions “clean” coal. Having worked around the power industry for many years I can tell you that clean coal does not exist. Research into making coal less polluting has produced something that does produce much lower particulate emissions in the air. But, it still creates a huge amount of ash that has to be carefully disposed of or it will cause significant water pollution. Also, the actual “fuel” produced is a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, which will burn, but has a low BTU content. And, once burned, it still releases far more CO2 than natural gas. Since it has such a low energy content, it requires more fuel per unit volume than natural gas, which means higher CO2 emissions.
In power generation there is no free lunch. All energy sources have a downside. Wind and solar are no exception. That’s why we need all of them.