Appalachia is the poorest region of the United States, earning the region the nickname," America's Colony," while the giant coal companies have earned the nickname, "King Coal."
King Coal has extracted the coal by using some of the most ruthless methods in what has been called, "Capitalism's Dark Side." Today, the coal companies have found an even better way to extract the coal, just blow up the mountains without a care for reclamation.
This documentary describes the socio economic costs of Mountain top removal.