[Eric in the Ozarks]

The Department of the Interior, Office of Surface Mining has regulations allowing “incidental” coal extraction (coal near the surface that is uncovered while building a highway, for example.) If the coal lays under what is called “prime farm land,” you would be required to return that land to 100 percent of pre-mine productivity and post a bond with your state (if it has primacy to oversee mining.)
When the 1977 law (amended in 78 and 79) was first drafted, it allowed up to 2 acres to be disturbed and no more than 250 tons to be extracted but not for sale. I'm pretty sure this has been changed, however.
The main thrust of the law was to prevent the loss of topsoil and keep dirty storm water from running off mine sites with holding ponds. Later, more regs were added covering blasting, dust, compaction of soils, mining into alluvial valley floors, etc. The mountaintop removal mining in W. VA seems to ignore the law's “approximate original contour” stipulations and certainly interrupts free flowing streams and creeks.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I should add; the law was published as PL 95-87, signed by Jimmah Cahtah.

[dangerdoc]

Thus the need not to talk about it.

I’ve moved tons of dirt and rock around my property. If some of that were coal, nobody would be the wiser. I wish I had an exposed seam on my property, I would dig some up just for the principal of the matter.

In fact just discussing it has aggravated me to the point I’ll have to pour some used motor oil in the in the creek just to make me feel better. /jk