For decades, rural Americans were told the industries that built their towns had no place in the future. They were ordered to “learn to code” as their American dream was regulated out of existence. 

One by one, the industries and ways of life that built rural communities were regulated, litigated, and culturally condemned out of existence. Their mills were too polluting, their mines too destructive, their coal plants too dirty. Logging destroyed the forests. Oil and gas threatened the climate.