re: #1 freetoken

I notice the author calls coal a “black rock” instead of the more detailed understanding of what coal is: fossils.

But then again most of West Virginia are probably in denial about the coal being fossils hundreds of millions of years old to begin with, so no wonder they are in denial of the rest too.

Science teacher mode on …

He’s correct. Coal is a sedimentary rock, or metamorphic rock in the case of anthracite. en.wikipedia.org

Fossils are usually bone or other formerly living materials turned into stone, for example, the Lucy skeleton or petrified wood. In that sense, coal is not a fossil, even though it was formed from layers of dead plant material laid down hundred of millions of years ago.

Fossils don’t burn too well. Coal is carboniferous. It burns really well.

…. Science teacher mode off.

But you’re probably right about some of the locals not appreciating the age and formation of coal.

Appalachia is America’s continental Third World “country.” These folks signed away their mineral rights years and years ago, unaware that the big coal companies could then come in, force them off their land, and tear down everything to get to the coal underneath. The residents get very little in return, compared to what they’ve lost. It’s exploitation, pure and simple.