TRC Allows Bankrupt East TX Coal Company To Expand, Dump Set-Asides For Land Reclamation

[hatrack]

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But that process is now at risk because one of the region's major mining companies is on the brink of bankruptcy. Besides the potential economic damage, bankruptcy could mean that heavily mined land goes unrestored because Luminant Mining Co. was allowed to operate without a reserve fund to pay for reclamation. The company insists it has sufficient money available to meet all of its responsibilities. Luminant and its parent company are struggling with more than $30 billion in debt and a rapidly dwindling cash flow. Analysts have said bankruptcy is possible within months.

A nearly 40-year-old federal law forces mining companies to set aside money for reclamation of the land before any mining starts. In Texas, large companies that have at least $10 million and other assets are allowed to do this through a process called self-bonding, which means the state trusts the company to have the money to restore the land.

Despite Luminant's cash crunch and crushing debt, the Texas Railroad Commission, which oversees mining permits, has allowed the company to expand its operations. Even with bankruptcy looming, Texas has granted the company a new permit to self-bond as it expands a mine in the Tatum area. The only caveat: Luminant must produce an unaudited financial statement every 90 days.

Some environmental groups such as the Sierra Club are worried that might not be enough. They fear if the company is forced to shut down power plants or mining operations in a restructuring, it might not have the millions of dollars needed for restoration. "It's more of a concern to me that we the taxpayers will have to flip the bill when they were supposed to set the money aside," Kaine Anderson, a lifetime resident of nearby Carthage said as he watched his son's baseball practice in Tatum. Both towns depend on Luminant for taxes and jobs.

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http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201308250105

[Nihil]

1. Well done Texas! You show them how environmental rules simply aren't necessary!

> was allowed to operate without a reserve fund to pay for reclamation.

> struggling with more than $30 billion in debt and a rapidly dwindling cash flow.

> the state trusts the company to have the money to restore the land.

> Despite Luminant's cash crunch and crushing debt, ... allowed the company to expand its operations.