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E&E News ($): Customers of mines in Wyoming and Montana burned as much as 42% less coal last year, according to a new analysis estimating which operations are most at risk of closing. The Powder River Basin mines about 40% of the country’s coal, but the region’s sprawling open pits have seen production cut by […]
Seth Feaster
Trouble at biggest mine in Powder River Basin speaks volumes about state of industry
Peabody Energy, the world’s largest privately owned coal company and the biggest U.S. coal producer, has finally acknowledged a long-apparent reality: Thermal coal mines in the U.S. have little value anymore and not much of a future. The company said as much earlier this month when it slashed the book value of the largest coal […]
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Billings Gazette: Colstrip Power Plant will continue receiving coal from Rosebud Mine under a six-year contract signed by all but one of the plant’s owners this wee The contract, five years in the making, was signed with just weeks left on the coal arrangement between the mine and the power plant. The terms assure the […]
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S&P Global Market Intelligence ($): The market capitalization of five of the top 10 U.S. coal companies was sliced by more than half from early January to mid-November 2019. Those top 10 producers’ market value totaled about $4.42 billion as of Nov. 22, a 59.4% drop from $10.88 billion as of Jan. 8, according to […]
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Montana Free Press: A group of environmental groups filed a lawsuit in federal court in Billings Monday challenging the proposed expansion of the Rosebud Coal Mine, which supplies coal to the Colstrip power plant. In June, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement approved the expansion, which will allow […]
Press Release, Karl Cates and Seth Feaster
Hundreds laid off with plans to replace employees with lower-paid contractors
Aug. 5, 2019 (IEEFA U.S.) — As Peabody Energy ceases production this month at the Kayenta Mine complex in northern Arizona, the company plans to abandon its long-time workforce even as it faces a vast amount of reclamation responsibility in the area. The company is abruptly discarding some 300 mine-complex employees this month, according to a […]
IEEFA
S&P Global Market Intelligence ($): U.S. coal producers delivered 65.5 million tons of coal, about 8.7% of the coal mined in 2018, to power plants set to retire between 2019 and 2032, according to an analysis by S&P Global Market Intelligence. The analysis excluded plants that retired before July 4 in 2019. Meanwhile, only one […]
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AP: A federal judge on Friday approved a bidding process for mines owned by bankrupt coal operator Blackjewel LLC. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Frank Volk in Charleston agreed with a motion by Blackjewel on a proposal made by Bristol, Tennessee-based Contura Energy. Contura has offered $20.6 million as the stalking horse bidder for three mines owned […]
Seth Feaster
Financial distress among mining companies could add momentum to electricity-generation transition
The chaotic collapse of Blackjewel and the unexpected closure of its mines in both the Powder River Basin and Appalachia, as well as a spate of other recent coal-mining bankruptcies, should serve as a wake-up call for utilities dependent on coal-fired generation. Coal companies serving the electricity supply sector are barely treading water while falling […]
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Platts: Demand for U.S. thermal coal will “erode significantly” between 2020 and 2030 as total use for U.S. power generation could fall to as little as 11% based on scheduled and likely retirements, Moody’s Investors Service wrote in a report released Wednesday. Mines in the Powder River Basin are expected to be the hardest hit […]
IEEFA Update: How Will Westmoreland Coal’s Deepening Spiral End?
Disappearing Market Capitalization and Unsustainable DebtWe’ve just published a research brief of interest to any person, community, business, or investor with ties to Westmoreland Coal Co. The brief—“Westmoreland Coal Is in Trouble”—lays out how the company, which produces coal for electricity generation, is hobbled by debt, is losing customers, has suffered a catastrophic drop in stock price, and appears to […]