because of ridiculous radiocarbon-dating. in reality, most of the worlds fuels are laid down each time there is a global cataclysm, such as a flood, an asteroid impact, or a hypervolcano (think 5 or 6 Mons Olympus blowing up at once). The earliest coal deposits were probably from when God created the earth and laid down adequate fuels for human consumption. As eons passed and humanity was nearly wiped out (once or twice or 40 times, who knows) by catastrophes, the extant plant and animal material was quickly buried and compressed into oils and coals.