Bob "I'm A Bag Of Shit" Murray Looks Like He's Heading To Default As Coal Empire Collapses

[hatrack]

You’ve probably seen Coal Baron Bob Murray on TV railing against climate science, demanding a coal bailout, and extolling the brilliance of the Trump administration. Above, John Oliver recounts his own amusing legal run-in with Murray, who typically sports a movie-villain-worthy oxygen tank as a prop while plotting to poison the atmosphere.

Bloomberg - Murray Energy Corp., the U.S. coal giant that had pressed the Trump administration for help averting bankruptcy, may be headed toward default. The largest closely held coal miner in America failed to make multiple payments to lenders this week, the company said in a statement on Wednesday. Creditors have agreed not to take legal action until Oct. 14, buying Murray some time to figure out how to shore up its balance sheet, the St. Clairsville, Ohio-based firm said.

Murray Energy is struggling to stay afloat, along with the rest of America’s coal miners, as cheap natural gas and renewable energy resources cut into coal’s share of the U.S. power market. At least four companies including Cloud Peak Energy Inc. and Blackjewel LLC have gone bankrupt this year, laying bare the decline of a fuel that once accounted for more than half of all U.S. power generation. Today it’s less than 25%.

The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment. The administration has considered other proposals to aid coal plants since, including one that would’ve had the Energy Department use its emergency authority to order grid operators to buy power from coal generators. But U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry said in June that there had been no movement on a plan.

The company’s 2024 notes with about $500 million outstanding traded at 1 cent on the dollar last month, down from above 60 cents late last year, according to Trace price data. On Tuesday, U.S. coal miner Foresight Energy LP failed to make its own interest payment, invoking a 30-day grace period to evaluate options. The shares slid 26% on the news to a record low. Murray and Foresight are inextricably linked: Murray bought a controlling stake in the St. Louis, Missouri-based company that hasn’t posted an annual profit since 2014.

EDIT

https://climatecrocks.com/2019/10/03/trumps-favorite-coal-baron-going-under/#more-57383

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. Do Trumpanzees still believe tRump is someday going to bring back black-lung jobs?

[eppur_se_muova]

3. "black-lung jobs" -- how accurately awful ! nt

[mountain grammy]

2. And now Rick Perry is resigning.