Lest anyone forget, the Centralia (coal) mine fire has been burning since at least 1962 and no one knows how to stop it. The Fukushima Daiichi incident really doesn't seem that bad to me, comparatively speaking.
Granted that coal fires can occur due to other causes than mining (such as simply exposing a coal seam to air during construction). That said, mining greatly increases the number of incidents that occur.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia_mine_fire