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To: locogringo who wrote (1092825)	10/12/2018 3:33:41 PM
From: sylvester80	1 Recommendation Recommended By SeachRE Respond to of 1577592

POS trump LOSING: Nation’s Oldest Independent Coal Producer Files Bankruptcy 10/10/2018 \| Darrell Proctor powermag.com Colorado-based Westmoreland Coal Co. on October 9 said it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, with the company reporting more than $1.4 billion in debt. The company in its annual financial report in April of this year said it was considering bankruptcy in an effort to protect it from creditors. Westmoreland, which has operated for 164 years, is the oldest independent U.S. coal company. It is the fourth major U.S. coal producer to file for bankruptcy protection in the past three years. Alpha Natural Resources went into bankruptcy in 2015, and Arch Coal and Peabody Energy filed bankruptcy petitions the following year. Coal producers have struggled in recent years with lower demand for their product as U.S. coal-fired power generation has diminished due to environmental regulations and the rise of natural gas-fired and renewable generation, leading to the closure of dozens of coal plants. Westmoreland closed its coal-fired Roanoke Valley Energy Facility in Weldon, North Carolina, in 2017. The company earlier this year disclosed a major customer in Ohio that accounted for 14% of its revenue had not renewed coal supply contracts that expire at the end of this year. Reports say that customer is American Electric Power, which this week confirmed it will close its 1.59-GW coal-fired Conesville power plant in Ohio by the end of May in 2020, two years earlier than originally planned. Westmoreland, headquartered in Englewood, Colorado, a Denver suburb, in a statement said it does not expect its operations to be interrupted by the filing. The company, which has about 3,000 workers and operations in several states, including the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana, and Canada, also said it does not plan staff reductions. Its bankruptcy filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston, Texas, said the company has entered a restructuring agreement with its lenders. Michael Hutchinson, who has served as the company’s interim CEO since November 2017 and served on the company’s board since 2012, in a statement Tuesday said, “After months of thoughtful and productive conversations with our creditors, we have developed a plan that allows Westmoreland to operate as usual while positioning Westmoreland for long-term success. We will continue to serve our customers in the normal course as we progress through an expedited process to restructure our long-term debt and other liabilities.” The company in May of this year secured a $110 million financing agreement. Hutchinson at the time said, “This financing also provides us with the financial flexibility to develop a longer-term plan while soliciting input from a number of our key constituents, who all want to see Westmoreland continue to grow and prosper. In the months ahead, we will continue our evaluation and determine the appropriate strategic, operational and financial structure to support the continued future growth of our business.” Westmoreland Coal operates the Absaloka mine near Hardin, Montana. Courtesy: Westmoreland Coal Jeffrey Stein, Westmoreland’s chief restructuring officer, said in the bankruptcy filing that “coal mining businesses across the U.S. and around the world are feeling pressure as a result of a variety of macroeconomic factors, and the fate of many of these companies is yet to be determined. President Donald Trump has made support of the coal industry a priority of his administration and the Environmental Protection Agency is rolling back several regulations that limited greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from power plants. Trump’s EPA recently unveiled the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) ruleas a replacement for President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan, which was never enacted amid numerous legal challenges. The ACE rule gives states more leeway to develop their own GHG regulations. Mary Anne Hitt, senior director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign, in a statement said Westmoreland’s bankruptcy is the “latest clear signal that the coal industry is in an irreversible decline.” Hitt said, “With numerous coal companies facing bankruptcy in recent years, it is clear that further investments in coal are a mistake. The best course for Westmoreland Coal Company moving forward must be to ensure that there are adequate funds to clean up its mines and to treat its workers with the respect they deserve. Nothing can stop America’s shift away from coal and toward clean energy, but the transition should be managed to ensure workers are treated with respect and that vital environmental obligations are honored.”

To: locogringo who wrote (1092825)	10/12/2018 3:34:18 PM
From: sylvester80	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1577592

POS trump LOSING: Second Major Coal Company Declares Bankruptcy During Trump Presidency By BRITTANY PATTERSON • 3 HOURS AGO wkyufm.org CREDIT PEABODY ENERGY, INC., VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS Westmoreland Coal Company, one of the oldest mining companies in the country, became the second major coal bankruptcy of the Trump presidency Tuesday when the company filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a Texas court. The company, which has a substantial presence in the Ohio Valley, has for years faced mounting difficulties as it continued to take on debt while many of the power plants that used its coal announced they intend to close or switch to cleaner fuels. Listen Listening... 1:04 In a statement, Westmoreland Coal and its subsidiary Westmoreland Resource Partners, LP (WMLP) which has also filed for bankruptcy, said it will will continue normal operations through the bankruptcy case by using cash collateral and does not expect to lay off workers at this time. While Westmoreland’s bankruptcy has been expected for some time -- the company warned investors in April it would likely seek bankruptcy protection -- some energy analysts said its current woes are a symptom of a much larger problem. “The reason that Westmoreland is in trouble, one part of the reason, is that they're losing customers,” said Seth Feaster, an energy data consultant with the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, who has studied Westmoreland. Many coal-fired power plants in the region and beyond are retooling to burn cleaner natural gas and many utilities are closing older coal-burning power plants. In the next four years, a slew of major coal-fired power plants in the Ohio Valley are expected to shut down. That includes in 2019 the Pleasants Power Station in West Virginia and in 2020 the Conesville coal generation facility in Ohio, Elmer Smith plant in Owensboro, Kentucky, and EW Brown plant in Kentucky. In 2021, FirstEnergy Solutions will close the Bruce Mansfield plant in Shippingport, Pennsylvania, and in 2022 its W.H. Sammis power plant in Stratton, Ohio, will shutter. Feaster said as coal-fired power generation shrinks, the market for who supplies the remaining facilities with coal becomes more competitive. “Westmoreland is now facing a whole bunch of other companies that are scrambling to get customers, too, because there's been very few mine closures,” he said. “The companies themselves are not making much money, and so they're in financially precarious positions. Somebody at some point in time has to blink and mines will have to close.” Westmoreland’s Portfolio According to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as of Dec. 31, 2017, Westmoreland Coal and Oxford Mining Company, a WMLP subsidiary, operated 13 surface and one underground mine in Ohio. The company also owns a mining complex in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, which is being reclaimed. Westmoreland’s Ohio mines employed at least 490 people in the second quarter of 2018, according to a review of data from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration. With the exception of the Buckingham underground mine in Corning, Ohio, all of the mining operations in Ohio and Kentucky are operated by Oxford.The company estimates the value of the Ohio and Kentucky mines’ land, mineral rights, property, plants and equipment at more than $202 million, as of the end of 2017. The bulk of the company’s Ohio operations supply thermal coal used for electricity generation under long-term supply contracts to American Electric Power and East Kentucky Power Cooperative, which accounted for 23 percent and 10 percent of the company’s revenues, respectively, according to their most recent 10-K filing with the SEC. In June, a subsidiary of AEP announced it would not renew a contract with Westmoreland to power its Conesville power plant after it expires at the end of this year. AEP said it will close down the 1,590-megawatt plant by by May 31, 2020, two years ahead of schedule, because it is not economically viable. The contract represented 14 percent of WMLP’s revenues. According to court documents filed Tuesday, Westmoreland is seeking to sell off at least some of its Ohio mines, including the Buckingham underground mine, which provided coal for the Conesville plant. Peter Morgan, a lawyer with the Sierra Club, said it’s unclear if anyone is interested in buying coal mines in today’s market. “The question remains whether there are going to be any interested buyers in those mines because the market for the coal in those mines has been really going away,” he said. Perry Forest The fate of a recently-proposed mining project also hangs in the limbo in Perry County, Ohio, as the bankruptcy proceedings move forward. Oxford Mining has applied for a permit to mine 545 acres inside the Perry State Forest, which has drawn the ire of local landowners who oppose the project. Some have called on the company to post an increased bond due to the bankruptcy. A spokesperson for the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency said they are continuing to review the draft permit and public comments. Eric Heis, a spokesperson with Ohio Department of Natural Resources said in an email that currently Oxford Mining Co. has posted a $2500 per acre bond for that project. “If Oxford were to forfeit bond at any point, the ODNR would seize all bonding instruments, and utilize funds from the Reclamation Forfeit Fund to complete reclamation,” he said.