Reparations for the "victims" of coal companies in Appalachia?

I had noticed before now this law review article by Professor Wendy Davis of the Appalachian School of Law, canvassing the history of litigation against coal companies in Appalachia, and concluding that reparations should be funded by the coal companies and paid by the federal government to local governments in Southwest Virginia and neighboring areas.

I don't quite agree with the politics, but the legal history is interesting, although I think coal companies lose more cases than is represented here, and one startling omission is the role whether for good or for ill of the United Mine Workers of America.