Growing up in eastern Kentucky, coal was never too far away. Nowadays about the only time I see it is the occasional barge on the Ohio River. For better or worse (mostly the worse) coal has been a big deal here in Kentucky for a very long time but those days are drawing to a close.
Coal has always been a double-edged sword for Kentucky. It brought us jobs, but those jobs were dangerous and deadly and wrecked the land while they poisoned the water. For all the mineral riches pulled from the ground, very little of that wealth has made it back to the communities from which it was extracted.
Even back when my grandfather was digging coal the coal jobs were already in the process of disappearing. Since then, automation and the move towards cleaner burning fuels have done nothing but accelerate that process. We're not the first and damn sure won't be the last to deal with the fallout from the resource curse but unfortunately most of the ones in charge here are too busy competing to be the biggest "Friend of Coal" (Here in Kentucky you can pay extra and get a special license plate that says that... facepalm) to actually try and remedy things.
Black gold, black lung, it all adds up to dying to make a living. You will not catch me lamenting coal's demise but it is still a bit disconcerting to watch its slow motion death. Hopefully what comes after proves less harmful than it was.
In the meantime, if you happen to come across one of those "Friend of Coal" license plates on a vehicle, please flip them the bird for me!