Very true, but that's a massive easier-said-than-done: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_seam_fire#Extinguishing_coal_fires http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_s

Very true, but that's a massive easier-said-than-done: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_seam_fire#Extinguishing_coal_fires http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_seam_fire#Extinguishing_co... I actually didn't know China had underground coal fires - I learned a little about the topic reading about the underground coal fires in Pennsylvania: http://www.offroaders.com/album/centralia/centralia.htm http://www.offroaders.com/album/centralia/centralia.htm It's expensive and dangerous to put them out as described in Wikipedia, but also the success rate can be fairly low. With our currency technology, you can put out 99% of the fire and have it restart and spread again quickly and undetected. From Wikipedia, italics mine: > In 2004, the Chinese government claimed success in extinguishing a mine fire at a colliery near Urumqi in China's Xinjiang province that had been burning since 1874. However, a March 2008 Time magazine article quotes researcher Steven Q. Andrews as saying, "I decided to go to see how it was extinguished, and flames were visible and the entire thing was still burning.... They said it was put out, and who is to say otherwise?"