Biggest Private Coal Miner Goes Bust As Trump Rescue Fails

[Julian Englis]

Source: Bloomberg

Robert E. Murray, the U.S. coal baron who pressed the Trump administration to help save America’s struggling miners, placed his company into bankruptcy as demand for the fossil fuel continues to weaken.

Murray Energy Holdings Co. filed for Chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Columbus, Ohio, to restructure more than $2.7 billion of debt. The miner -- the largest privately owned U.S. coal company -- reached a restructuring support agreement with a group of lenders that provides a new $350 million loan to keep operations going during the reorganization, according to the court filing.

The move comes more than a year after the Trump administration’s efforts to subsidize struggling nuclear and coal-fired power plants failed, shot down by Trump’s own appointed energy regulators. Some of those plants were Murray Energy’s customers. Robert Murray, a big donor to Trump’s campaign, was instrumental in setting his energy agenda and has hosted multiple fundraisers.

The company said Tuesday that it named Robert Moore as president and chief executive officer of Murray Energy. Under the restructuring agreement, the lender group will form a new entity -- called Murray NewCo -- that would seek to acquire the company’s assets, with Murray as chairman and Moore as CEO.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-29/biggest-private-coal-miner-goes-bust-after-trump-rescue-fails

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Too much winning.

[CurtEastPoint]

1. womp womp

[SKKY]

9. My thoughts exactly

[ArizonaLib]

2. So cash donation probably went to Trump's campaign and the debt goes to restructuring

Sounds like Trump style cash management. Birds of a feather...

[BumRushDaShow]

3. The OP article also mentioned these tidbits

The company’s collapse underscores how deeply cheap natural gas and renewable energy resources have cut into coal’s share of the U.S. power market. Cloud Peak Energy Inc., Cambrian Coal Co., Blackjewel LLC and Blackhawk Mining LLC have all filed for bankruptcy this year. Their downfall mirrors waning demand for fuel that as recently as 2003 accounted for more than half of all U.S. power generation.

/snip

(Michael R. Bloomberg, the founder and majority stakeholder of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News, has committed $500 million to launch Beyond Carbon, a campaign aimed at closing the remaining coal-powered plants in the U.S. by 2030 and slowing the construction of new gas plants.)

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-29/biggest-private-coal-miner-goes-bust-after-trump-rescue-fails

Some info on the bankruptcies of those other companies -

Blackjewel LLC (in Wyoming & Kentucky) - https://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article234188437.html
Cambrian Coal (Kentucky) - https://www.kentucky.com/news/state/kentucky/article235419587.html
Blackhawk Mining LLC (Kentucky & West Virginia) - https://apnews.com/e736d8403f0d4732b5a5c328f0e54327

I am sure they will still blame "Obama", will give their "savior" a pass, and will make sure that Turtle is re-elected.

And note what billionaire Bloomberg is doing from his end...

[dalton99a]

11. +1

[IronLionZion]

4. Maybe fewer coal miners will support Trump going forward

Since his lies won't work a second time around.

Hillary had a plan for retraining miners and helping them find new jobs in other fields.

[spinbaby]

5. Murray Energy is a huge republican donor

Donating to Republican candidates and attending fundraising dinners is a condition of working there.

[IronLionZion]

8. They're bankrupt

so maybe fewer donations and fundraisers. They'll have fewer workers too.

[NonPC]

7. Sadly, Yes the lies will work again

Think of Lucy holding the ball for Charlie Brown....

[NonPC]

6. New $350M Loan

Wonder if any of the lenders are fronts for Russian money?

Also, I would guess that Murray's finances didn't get hurt personally from this.

[OAITW r.2.0]

27. You gotta ask...who would gamble $350MM on a dead industry?

Follow the money on this one. Probably a federally insured program that will bail the creditors if their investment goes bad.

[SKKY]

10. But these coal miners will still vote Republican. Because, a Republican is gonna republican.

[B Stieg]

12. Clean Coal?

Yeah. Just what we thought.

[CanonRay]

13. What lenders are will to throw 350 more million onto the ash heap

It's still going to fail.

[duforsure]

14. Or as trump will claim

Coal mining increasing like never before, and the greatest comeback in our history because of me. Then next hour be attacking Democrats because its failing everywhere because its their fault.

[Xolodno]

15. Even with the hard sanctions on North Korea...

...we still can't export it any cheaper.

[pangaia]

16. Why can't PEOPLE get a 'restructuring?'

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

17. Well

Coal is nineteenth century energy.

[Crowman2009]

18. "Eat shit Bob!" - one of his workers.

That was from John Oliver.

[MattInMN]

19. In related news...

...buggy whip sales continue to fall.
Hippies mourn loss of 8-track tapes.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

20. For years they pressured their white-collar employees to give heavily to Republican candidates.

David Fahrenthold Retweeted

Reminder: this is the company that for years has been pressuring its white-collar employees to give heavily to Republican candidates, with threatening letters and spreadsheets to track compliance, and forced miners to attend a Romney rally in Ohio in 2012. https://newrepublic.com/article/108140/coal-miners-donor-mitt-romney-benefactor …

Link to tweet

[Botany]

21. All the coal miners know that it is a doomed business because in the short run:

Natural Gas is cheaper, cleaner, and much easier to use.

And in the long run clean renewables will take over.

[Demovictory9]

22. kick

[DesertRat]

23. so much winning

[Nac Mac Feegle]

24. What happens to the pension fund?

If past bankruptcies are any indication, the pension fund suddenly "disappears", and those people that worked decades with a promise of "We'll take care of you later" will be shafted. Not to mention the black lung funds, and the environmental cleanup funds will become "casualties" of the bankruptcy.

And the owners will walk away with millions in consulting fees and other payments.

Something is going to happen one of these days. There will be someone that has nothing left to lose and sees the real cause of their downfall. Or there will be a "torches and pitchforks" incident.

The only hope these slimeballs have is to make sure Fox keeps up the "It's Democrats fault" drumbeat. But sooner or later that will fail, and there will come some Bad Times.

It will be ugly.

All it takes is someone that has reached the proverbial "end of their rope".

[Wellstone ruled]

26. Just another White Motor Company when it

comes to their Pensions. Maybe ten cents on a dollar.

[WhiteTara]

25. Sounds like they're stripping assets and screwing

the workers by calling them a liability.

[riversedge]

28. The company's collapse underscores how deeply cheap natural gas and renewable energy resources have

Coal is too expensive. Simple as that.


...........The company’s collapse underscores how deeply cheap natural gas and renewable energy resources have cut into coal’s share of the U.S. power market. Cloud Peak Energy Inc., Cambrian Coal Co., Blackjewel LLC and Blackhawk Mining LLC have all filed for bankruptcy this year. Their downfall mirrors waning demand for fuel that as recently as 2003 accounted for more than half of all U.S. power generation.