The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) has launched a new phase in its ongoing advertising campaign by supporting President-Elect Barack Obama's call to invest in America's energy future - including investments in clean coal.

The new television advertisement uses Mr. Obama's own words to punctuate the fact that investing in clean coal technologies promotes energy independence, creates jobs, and ensures sustained environmental progress - including the ability to capture and store CO2 in response to climate change concerns. The footage used in the ad. comes from a campaign rally in Lebanon, Virginia held during October 2008.

Throughout the election campaign and since, the President-Elect has called for increased federal funding to ensure that coal mined right here at home remains a strategic energy option for America, even as we also pursue strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the energy sector. Mr. Obama has stressed the need to invest in all available domestic energy resources, including wind, solar, biomass, and clean coal - an approach that ACCCE fully supports.

"The President-Elect's strong leadership on this issue deserves our support," said Joe Lucas, Senior Vice President of Communications for ACCCE. "We look forward to working with the new President, his administration, and the new Congress in promoting policies that advance energy security, create jobs, keep energy costs affordable for American families and businesses, and ensure continued environmental progress - including meeting the challenge of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Accomplishing all of these things simultaneously will require the joint efforts of the government, industry, and the American people. However, we agree with our new President that Americans have faced much tougher challenges and have always risen to the occasion," said Lucas.

Federal and state policy makers can move forward knowing that the American people believe investments in new clean coal technologies are wise policy choices. A national poll commissioned by ACCCE in October shows that 72 percent of opinion leaders support the use of coal for generating electricity and 69 percent agree with the notion that coal is a fuel for America's future.