What if one of your goals is to buy votes of otherwise-unemployed coal miners? If the coal has no economic uses for energy production, but the mining has some

What if one of your goals is to buy votes of otherwise-unemployed coal miners? If the coal has no economic uses for energy production, but the mining has some reason to happen anyway, where the coal itself becomes a by-product, turning it into agricultural soil wouldn't be entirely horrible. The heavy metals would probably have to be removed before disposing of it anyway.