Just as one example of the reasons behind my, personal, hate of fossil fuel, apart from the climate debate, but related to the topic of what causes it, coal mining:
See what mining coal has done. The rivers in red are roughly the same acidity as coca-cola, and have no fish (or insects really) at all. The green shown are also acidic, but some few species of fish have clung on, barely. Streams in Pennsylvania that have not been effected by coal mining are full of trout.
Anyone that thinks they can convince me that coal is ok to extract (and even burn)- Take a look at what happened already in my homeland and think again.
This is a map of streams and rivers in my home state of Pennsylvania, which also happens to be home of anthracite- the finest and hardest coal in the world.