Is Clean Coal Story Worthy?

James Fallows has a cover story on the inevitability of coal in The Atlantic magazine that is a must-read. The piece cogently lays out why coal is king and why it must be made to be clean. The story is already prompting knee-jerk annoyance in predictable places. More on that in a minute. Here's the the nutgraph--the premise of the story, where its purpose is explained (my emphasis):