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[Trojita]

https://trib.com/business/energy/tw...cle_773100d1-b5b4-57d8-af49-842518b9e219.html

Two coal mines in Wyoming closed and sent 700 workers home Monday afternoon after their owner filed for bankruptcy, the latest blow to a region that has been battered by an economic downturn in the fossil fuel sector.
Blackjewel LLC, which operates Eagle Butte and Belle Ayr mines near Gillette, sent the workers home after a bank denied the company $20 million in financing to continue operations during bankruptcy proceedings, CEO Jeffery Hoops said.
Eagle Butte and Belle Ayr are the fourth- and sixth-largest producing coal mines in the country. The sudden closure hearkens back to March 2016, when two nearby mines laid off more than 460 workers, touching off economic shock waves that are still being felt in the Powder River Basin today.

Blackjewel owes at least $500 million in liabilities, including about $6 million owed to employees, according to court documents. Its financial problems, along with much of the coal sector, come amid increased competition from natural gas and renewables.

“The ripple effect of this bankruptcy might be felt severely (by) Wyoming taxpayers and vendors,” said Clark Williams-Derry, director of energy finance at Sightline Institute, a Seattle-based environmental think tank. “And the millions upon millions of dollars Campbell (County) is owed, they might not get.”
Hoops bought the Wyoming coal mines two years ago from Contura Energy. Another of Hoops' companies in the case, Revelation Energy LLC, operates mines in West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia.

Even with half of Wyoming’s coal country undergoing consolidation and the other half in bankruptcy proceedings, few experts predicted that the once lucrative Powder River Basin would undergo such a rapid decline, including Rob Godby, professor and director for the University of Wyoming’s Energy Economics and Public Policies Center.

Hoops told the Star-Tribune that he learned at a Monday morning court hearing that United Bank of West Virginia denied the company the $20 million financing it sought to continue mining operations in the interim.
Workers were sent home from the mines on Monday afternoon by the company.

From the very beginning of the ownership transfer, Blackjewel fell behind on its ad valorem taxes to the county, amassing $37 million in tax liability.

The loss of 700 well paying jobs is likely to have a big effect on that community. There's also concerns that the companies are going to cut and run without cleaning up the sites. I'm not an expert in this industry, but from what I understand mining companies that do excavation work in an area sign a Reclamation Bond agreement that they will restore and clean up a site during and after a project. The companies are supposed to put aside money for this cleanup. A company that makes hundreds of millions needs to put a few million to the side to meet their obligation. Declaring bankruptcy afaik allows them to skirt the cleanup cost. Apparently these companies are allowed to self insure, so they can just forgive their own debt. This leaves the citizens of Wyoming (or any other state where this occurs) to deal with these fucked up abandoned sites.

The Powder River Basin Resource Council, a landowner’s group in Wyoming, will be keeping a close eye on the company’s responsibility to the land and its workers.

“We worry about who will continue the reclamation efforts at both mines, and whether the financial guarantees will cover the hundreds of millions of dollars in reclamation bonds,” the group’s chairwoman Joyce Evans said in a statement. “There will be serious consequences for the state but more immediately for Campbell County and its residents.”

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

$500 million liabilities, including about $6 million owed to employees​

Yeah, shut it down. I'm all for government helping to subsidize an industry, but individual companies should be allowed to fail when they mismanage themselves this terribly. Sucks for the employees involved.

 

[TrainedRage]

They can easily get jobs as coders according to progressives. I don't see an issue.

/s

 

[Tesseract]

just teach these guys linear algebra and get them to program video games

god how hard is it

/snorts cocaine

 

[J-Roderton]

Seen that happen before many a time back in VA. Sucks for those guys.

 

[Winter John]

I remenber that lying fucking scumbag Trump pledging to save them coal mines. The sad thing is those workers were so desperate to keep their jobs they voted for him..

 

[DeepEnigma]

I remenber that lying fucking scumbag Trump pledging to save them coal mines. The sad thing is those workers were so desperate to keep their jobs they voted for him..

Read the article.

 

[Pagusas]

What exactly is the point of a bond if it’s incapable of being used when a company goes under? The whole point of the entire bond business is to protect stake holders interest (in this case the state) from companies not fulfilling their promise (in this case, cleaning up the work site). Bonds are suppose to be pre-paid with the funds, they are suppose to be guaranteed, that’s the whole point of them existing!

 

[Winter John]

Read the article.

I read the article.

 

[RiccochetJ]

I've been to Gillette. Coal was the main driver for that town/city. I'll be interested in seeing how they rebound. My guess is that it will rebound with the natural gas deposits littered around that area and Wyoming isn't as uppity as Colorado is when it comes to Fracking.

 

[ndreamer]

Have you seen natural gas prices ? They are falling too, russia has been making a big play

 

[Phunkydiabetic]

$500 million liabilities, including about $6 million owed to employees​

Yeah, shut it down. I'm all for government helping to subsidize an industry, but individual companies should be allowed to fail when they mismanage themselves this terribly. Sucks for the employees involved.

Huh, tell that to Dodge and Chevy....

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

Huh, tell that to Dodge and Chevy....

I wish I could. I'd also like to tell it to Fannie Mae and Goldman Sachs and Citigroup and all the rest, all the way down the list. In general, we've mismanaged our economy in the USA by placing regulations where they don't belong and doling out money for those who don't deserve it.

 

[Phunkydiabetic]

I wish I could. I'd also like to tell it to Fannie Mae and Goldman Sachs and Citigroup and all the rest, all the way down the list. In general, we've mismanaged our economy in the USA by placing regulations where they don't belong and doling out money for those who don't deserve it.

The rich get richer and all that eh