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Experts say that's because much of the easy-to-reach coal has already been extracted in West Virginia and neighboring Virginia and Kentucky, forcing miners to use massive equipment to eat through walls of quartz-filled sandstone to reach the remaining thin coal seams.

"If you've ever about drowned — or anybody's about drowned — they know what I'm talking about because I go through that every morning," said Mark F. Powell, a fourth-generation miner from southern West Virginia who's upset with policies.

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