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U.S. may curb coal cleanup subsidy: official
Last edited Thu May 19, 2016, 03:45 PM - Edit history (1)
Wed May 18, 2016 4:33pm EDT
U.S. may curb coal cleanup subsidy: official
By Patrick Rucker and Tracy Rucinski
The United States is considering whether to reign in a subsidy on coal mine cleanup costs and in so doing shield taxpayers from those liabilities, a leading regulator for the mining industry said on Wednesday.
The program, known as self-bonding, has allowed some of the country's largest coal companies to avoid putting aside cash, bonds or other securities that are typically required to cover future mine cleanup costs. ... Instead, self-bonding allows a company to use its balance sheet as collateral - a problem when that company goes bankrupt.
Peabody Energy, Arch Coal and Alpha Natural Resources have all gone bankrupt in the last ten months and left behind roughly $3.6 billion in self-bond liabilities, according to securities filings.
Environmentalists have warned officials that coal-producing states in the west left the self-bonding program open to abuse and the Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation Enforcement (OSMRE) on Wednesday said that it would investigate those concerns.
U.S. may curb coal cleanup subsidy: official
By Patrick Rucker and Tracy Rucinski
The United States is considering whether to reign in a subsidy on coal mine cleanup costs and in so doing shield taxpayers from those liabilities, a leading regulator for the mining industry said on Wednesday.
The program, known as self-bonding, has allowed some of the country's largest coal companies to avoid putting aside cash, bonds or other securities that are typically required to cover future mine cleanup costs. ... Instead, self-bonding allows a company to use its balance sheet as collateral - a problem when that company goes bankrupt.
Peabody Energy, Arch Coal and Alpha Natural Resources have all gone bankrupt in the last ten months and left behind roughly $3.6 billion in self-bond liabilities, according to securities filings.
Environmentalists have warned officials that coal-producing states in the west left the self-bonding program open to abuse and the Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation Enforcement (OSMRE) on Wednesday said that it would investigate those concerns.
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