The Angela Theater in Coaldale screened a documentary tonight entitled “Centralia.” Centralia was a small town in the anthracite belt where an underground fire started in a coal seam in the Sixties. Because of fumes, subsidence, and underground heat (at one point the gas in the local service station reached dangerous temperatures), the residents were finally bought out, some by eminent domain.
It is clear that federal and state government did screw up and may not have known what they were doing. On the other hand, the documentary also makes clear that if local officials had followed the state guidelines, the fire would never have started, although this point is not stressed.
Some residents of the town believe there was a conspiracy to move the town so that a coal company could mine the coal beneath the borough limits. This was not my impression. I am a firm believer in Occam’s Razor–the simplest explanation is usually the best. Incompetence is always a good bet.
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