Environmentalists
hail Arch Coal bankruptcy as the 'end of an era'
EDITOR’S
NOTE: Just a caution…. When I was director of the Citizens Coal Council, a
national federation of groups fighting coal operators over the damage they
caused to people, health and the environment, coal company bankruptcies, large
and small, were pretty common. Often, they were strategic moves by coal
companies to evade their responsibilities. – W. Collette
Arch
Coal, the United States' second largest coal supplier, on Monday filed for bankruptcy, signaling what
environmentalists described as the "end of an era" as the country
moves to more renewable, less polluting energy sources.
"Arch
Coal’s bankruptcy is the latest sign of a profound shift in America’s energy
landscape," said Mary Anne Hitt, director of Sierra
Club's Beyond Coal campaign.
Bloomberg reports: "The court filing listed $5.8 billion in assets and $6.5 billion in debt. The company has agreed to the terms of a $275 million loan to keep it operating during bankruptcy. The loan includes a $75 million carve-out for environmental reclamation obligations, according to court papers."
The
announcement, which comes after five years of decline in Arch's stock price,
marks the latest coal industry titan to fall as the
global energy market is beginning to catch up with more climate-friendly
regulations and demand.
Indeed,
in a filing accompanying the Chapter 11 petition, Arch chief financial officer
John Drexler took aim at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's emissions
regulations, writing: "Over the past several years, a confluence of
economic challenges and regulatory hurdles has hobbled the coal industry."
A
recent report by the London-based Carbon Tracker Initiative found that the slump in coal prices has
forced more than two dozen U.S. coal companies into bankruptcy over the past three
years.
"With
one-third of the nation’s coal plants slated for retirement, due to grassroots
advocacy and increased competition from renewable energy, the coal industry’s
prospects are fading," Hitt continued.
"The bankruptcy of America’s
second largest coal company, which comes on the heels of an historic, universal
climate agreement in Paris, is a clear signal that coal is a fuel of the past,
and that America’s future will be powered by clean energy that doesn’t harm
public health or our climate."
The
company, which is based in Creve Coeur, Missouri, maintains holdings across the
U.S., including in Appalachia and Wyoming's Powder River Basin, where Arch's
Black Thunder mine, the country's second largest, is located.
The
Sierra Club said the filing "significantly reduces the likelihood that
several Arch Coal projects across Montana and Washington State will move
forward, including the Otter Creek mine and Tongue River Railroad in Montana,
as well as the proposed Millennium Bulk Terminals coal export terminal in
Longview, Washington."
Ross
Macfarlane, senior advisor with the Seattle-based Climate Solutions, celebrated
this development, saying: "Arch’s bankruptcy is the final nail in the
coffin for the Millennium coal terminal in Longview, Washington, as well as the
company’s fading dreams to make itself into a major player exporting Montana
coal to Asian markets."
