Two days ago there was a coordinated string of protests against the exploitation and exportation of America’s coal reserves. The venue was San Francisco — distant from the heart of coal country, but the people there are very knowledgeable, so we denizens of a rustic coal mining state should try to benefit from their vast stores of knowledge.

The Associated Press reported: “California officials, schoolchildren and at least one billionaire denounced the Trump administration’s plan to scrap Obama-era limits on emissions from power plants in blistering comments Wednesday to U.S. officials visiting a state that’s helping lead the fight against climate change. Hundreds spoke in defense of the Clean Power Plan at a hearing in San Francisco, the latest in a series of nationwide ‘listening sessions’ by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on its effort to repeal the restrictions. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has described them as part of former President Barack Obama’s ‘war on coal.’”

Outside the listening session, more than 100 schoolchildren marched, banged drums and chanted, “No coal, no way, not ever not today.”

“I have friends who have asthma, and they’re going to die” because of coal, declared 11-year-old activist Melisa Rodriguez.

The speakers included climate scientist Jim McMahon, who referenced the 2015 Paris accord, to cut emissions. Obama committed the United States to accord. Trump withdrew from it on June 1, 2017.

“As an American, I’m embarrassed that the United States is the only country moving away from the Paris accord,” McMahon said.

Wait. Whoa! Stop the drumming. Let’s take a fact check.

From the U.S. Energy Information Administration, here’s some data for U.S. coal exports in the first nine months of 2017 (January through September):

Netherlands: 7.5 million tons of American coal.

Germany: 3.5 million tons of American coal.

Ukraine: 2.5 million tons of American coal.

Italy: 2.2 million tons.

Turkey: 2.1 million tons.

United Kingdom: 1.9 million tons.

Croatia: 1.5 million tons.

France (yes, France): 1.5 million tons of American coal.

Somehow, San Francisco’s sanctimony rings hollow when the European continent’s combined consumption of American coal hit 28,398,135 tons for the first nine months of 2017.

Not only are all of the above mentioned nations signatories to the agreement, but France hosted the affair that birthed it. This might sound about as contrary as passing the flask at an AA meeting, but France is importing tons of U.S. coal. It’s a fact.

Maybe we just don’t understand what the Paris agreement was all about. Either it is not as stridently anti-coal as we’ve been led to believe — or the resolve of its members is gossamer-thin.

Either way, we distinctly remember that the European Union, along with 174 nations worldwide, signed onto the Paris agreement the first day they were able to do so.

And the export figures make it very hard to say that the United States is the only country moving away from the Paris accord. The facts, in fact, say just the opposite.

It’s obvious that there is much more to the issue. Clean-coal technology makes coal more attractive, while abundant supply of coal — and U.S. Marcellus Shale gas — make both energy sources more affordable.

Maybe Europe should be buying Pennsylvania Marcellus gas instead of coal. We’ve got plenty of that on hand, too.