Mission Coal files for bankruptcy--5th coal company in 3 years

[groundloop]

Source: CBS News

A Tennessee coal mining company that filed for bankruptcy this week is the second coal company to go bankrupt during Donald Trump's pro-coal presidency. It's also the fifth U.S. coal industry bankruptcy in the last three years as competitors in the energy market continue to drive coal into the dust pile.

Mission Coal, an operator of three mines in West Virginia and one in Alabama, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sunday listing about $175 million in debt and just $55,000 cash on hand, according to court filings. This small company joins Colorado-based Westmoreland Coal, one of the country's oldest coal companies, which filed for bankruptcy earlier this month, and Peabody Energy, Arch Coal and Alpha Natural Resources, which all have ended up in bankruptcy courts since 2015.

Competition from other energy sources—super-cheap natural gas in particular—has been the main culprit. Obama-era "clean coal" regulations scuttled earlier this year by the Trump administration has played just a small role in the industry's collapse, experts say.

<snip>

The White House, which has been drafting a plan to prop up the coal industry on national security grounds, has recently abandoned its efforts, according to reports. The fate of Mission Coal helps explain the challenges.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mission-coal-bankruptcy-marks-5th-coal-company-in-3-years/

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So Tiny can't single handedly save coal mining jobs.... who'd of thunk it.

[Marthe48]

1. Coal miner: I have a horse for sale

Big companies: we switched to natural gas, solar or wind power. We don't need horses.

Coal miner: I have a horse for sale.

[iluvtennis]

2. Trumpty Dumpty promised his purple kool-aid base he would put coal back into the mines..

...Hillary and other candidates actually had good proposals about retraining coal miners into green technology jobs/other jobs. BUt, Trump said NO, he would get coal mines going again.

[NCjack]

6. Elections have consequences, even for coal. nt

[aeromanKC]

3. Should have listened to Hillary

The Miners should have listened to Hillary instead of villainizing her. They would have been retrained by now with new jobs.

[BigmanPigman]

16. I wonder if there is a poll out

regarding how many coal miners would be willing to retrain. I know that a lot of them will not move to a new location for a job. I wonder how many would retrain for a job?

[aeromanKC]

17. No need to retrain because Trump said their jobs will come back

I saw a cable news segment that interviewed out of work miners who said they are unwilling to retrain because they believe their mining jobs are coming back. Trump said so.

[liberal N proud]

4. No matter how hard trump and klan try, they cannot save coal

[FSogol]

5. In 2016, there were only about 50,000 coal miners in the US. If Trumpy really cared,

it would be really easy to create a Federal program to give them job retraining for wind/solar/gas jobs.

Anyone who really thought Trumpy and the GOP cared or would do anything, should really have their heads examined.

[iluvtennis]

7. Exactly.

[Freethinker65]

8. Trump made fun of alternative to coal jobs and those that had them. They were not manly enough.

"These guys are massive guys, they grab me. I say, "How would you like to make computer widgets? "Nope, we want to dig coal." Right. They have no interest in little delicate computer parts."

From Trump rally in West Virginia, Sept 29, 2018

Trump plays them for fools and they cheer.

[Nitram]

9. Good job Trump! We'er really getting tired of winning!

[BumRushDaShow]

10. "recently abandoned its efforts"

Of course they did because -

[LakeSuperiorView]

11. So much winning...

Are the coal miners tired yet?

[47of74]

12. One more and they'll match Fuck Face's record.

[George II]

13. During the campaign he whined about all the coal mines that have closed in recent years....

....he has no idea why most of them closed: THEY RAN OUT OF COAL TO MINE!!!

Even if he use of coal took off and people were clamoring for coal, those mines would remain closed because there was nothing left to dig out of the ground.

[modrepub]

15. There's plenty of coal in them seams

but it costs more to take it out than what it could be sold for on the open market. A slight correction to your point but the important one. Unless you want a command economy (communism or extreme socialism), it doesn't make sense to mine any coal unless the cost to extract it is less than than the value of the coal on the market otherwise you're wasting resources. That's capitalism at it finest, kill the unproductive and redeploy it in areas that are productive. A point lost on most Trump supporters.

[Wellstone ruled]

14. We are talking Trump voters here.

Interesting as to the timing. Watch and see where these votes end up. Understand the Miners Pension Fund as well as their Insurance Fund is tapped out.

This will be devastating for those Regions and to think,the same regions are dealing with massive Opioid issues .

[Corgigal]

18. Trump coal miner voters

heard what they wanted to hear. Wasn't realistic, but they were happy for 48 months. Now, they are screwed forever. Fantasy land can have such a kick sometimes.