But more charitably, I could also see people going past worrying to denial/dismissal
To accept it and and work from there to adapt and mitigate is terrifying. I think you can probably say the same about climate change.
Additionally, I think you could draw a line that these denials are influenced by those protecting their "salaries"
Guess what- the coal industry is going out of business anyway. Those dinosaurs will die anyway - the problem is with “jobs will be lost” argument they are also dragging the future of rest of the humanity with them.
Coal's life may be limited, but in the coming 50 years it's just going to grow significantly.