West Virginia commonly renounced as a beautiful piece of Appalachia, with little hollers and small towns tucked away in the mountains and their landscapes. A coal miner state but also known for many other natural gases like timber, oil, and gas. Threw out history many techniques have been used to capture these valuable natural resources the beautiful state possessed. These natural resources sparked an economics, social, and political interest in the state. These trends at the time served greatly to not only the state, but to the nation as a whole. The misuse and abuse of coal and mining have taken great effect on the mountains and the state of West Virginia. Mountain top removal, unclaimed strip mines, and clear cuts in the beautiful hills of West Virginia have made a social, economical, and environmental stigmata for the state.

At the time of industrialization the amount of coal removed from the state set a standard for modern coal companies. more »