Help for coal miners: Flame the ember of hope for miners’ pension rescue

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

November 25, 2019

Right is right. A promise is a promise.

For generations, coal has powered our lives. It has heated our homes, fueled the conduction of electricity that lit our lamps, ignited the Industrial Revolution. And it was coaxed from the earth by miners who risked their lives and sacrificed their health in the effort that didn’t just blacken their faces and their hands, but also their lungs.

We are indebted and they are owed at the very least the pensions they were promised.

For the first time in years, there is an ember of hope that the United Mine Workers of America retirement plan will be rescued from the collapse projected to happen in 2022.

Miners have been pleading with federal lawmakers for years to shore up union pensions in the wake of industry bankruptcies and layoffs. They’ve had the bipartisan support of West Virginia Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito, a Democrat and a Republican, respectively. Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey has been with them, shoulder to shoulder, as a co-sponsor. But they’ve gotten nowhere.

Finally, earlier this month, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, has gotten behind the American Miners Act, which would transfer excess funds from abandoned mine reclamation to the nearly broke retirement plan.

Congress must follow his lead.

Right is right. A promise is a promise. And the promise of a pension was made not only by the industry, but by our country. President Harry Truman pledged decades ago that the federal government would not allow the UMWA pensions to fall. President Donald Trump made a promise, too. In the 2016 election, he said he would spark the restoration of coal jobs by rolling back environmental regulations. But, demand for coal has continued its downward slide as power plants use less expensive and cleaner-burning natural gas — natural gas that is abundant in Western Pennsylvania.

The logical answer is to rescue the retirement fund before it goes broke. The number of coal jobs may not be climbing, but the pensions that prevent pensioners from falling into poverty can and must be preserved. In 2017, just 10,000 workers were paying into the pension fund that supports 120,000 miners receiving pension checks. The pension fund simply cannot stand on its own without federal support.

Using excess funds from the federal Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund makes sense. The money was collected from coal companies for mine restoration projects. Using some of it to restore the pensions of those who worked the mines is necessary. The legislation must pass both congressional chambers by year’s end.

Senators Manchin, Capito and Brown speak on behalf of the Bipartisan American Miners Act 2019

Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Shelley Moore Captio (R-WV) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) spoke on the Senate floor on November 21, 2019 about the importance of passing the Bipartisan American Miners Act that was introduced November 6, 2019.

Congress needs to ACT NOW to secure the pensions these miners worked for, earned and deserve.

Brooke County Commissioners back preservation of UMWA pensions

Source: WTOV9

BROOKE COUNTY, W.Va. — Commissioners in Brooke County are showing their support for the protection and preservation of pension and healthcare for UMWA plan beneficiaries.

At Tuesday morning’s commissioners meeting, a resolution was passed to show support and say that they want the federal government to act to protect the pensions of these retirees.

It’s a nation-wide issue threatening the pension of miners. U.S. Senator Joe Manchin joined Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senator Shelly Moore-Capito recently in introducing a bill to protect the pensions of 92,000 retired miners and their families across the industry.

“The pension benefits for miners throughout the country are now being threatened because of bankruptcy and things like that, and we wanted to throw our support behind those retirees,” Commissioner AJ Thomas said.

The signed resolution will now be sent to Manchin’s office in hopes of making an impact in Washington.

51st anniversary of Farmington Mine Disaster ceremony brings together community

Source: 12 WBOY

Farmington, W.Va. – On Sunday friends, family, union workers, and others gathered for the 51st commemoration of the Farmington Mine Disaster that killed 78 miners.

Around 5:30 a.m on November 20, 1968, there was an explosion and fire in the Consolidation Coal Company’s No.9 mine. Of the 78 miners who died that day, 19 remain entombed in the mine. They are all memorialized at a site in Marion Co., where their names engraved in stone.

Cecil Roberts, the president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), was in attendance and spoke with vigor about the sadness of the tragedy that changed the lives of the families for the worse. He described the site of the monument as a holy place for him and said in all his years of attending the commemoration the crowd size had seemed to increase and not diminished with the passing of time.

“This is such a wonderful tribute to those miners who died,” Roberts said. “Those widows who woke up–as I said, to bed as a wife woke up as widows not only that they woke up as the head of the household. And then 12, 14-year-old boys being told ‘you’re the man of the house now.’ People having to figure out ‘how do we pay the bills, how do we eat, how do we get through this?”

Roberts said he has a lot of admiration and respect for the families because they did not give up. Instead, they persevered for themselves and also for other coal miners by becoming activists for mine safety. He said the disaster and pressure from families changed the rules and regulations for the coal industry.

A year later, in the wake of the tragedy, Congress passed the nation’s first comprehensive mine safety and health legislation called the Mine Safety and Health Act of 1969.

Levi Allen, who serves as the UMWA international secretary-treasurer, said it’s always been important for him to be a part of the ceremony and that he’s been taking part for almost ten years. He spoke at the ceremony and said the tragedy was UMWA’s history, heritage and where they come from.

“I worked 8 years in an underground coal mine,” Allen said. “I left that mine alive every day because of the effort and the sacrifices these workers made.”

He said the tragedy changed everything. Miner’s contracts changed, allowing them to have more of a say and decide who is best to represent them in the union. And that, in turn, allowed the union to step up their responsibilities in terms of protecting miners.

“Before 1968, before Farmington, you didn’t have any enforcement rights and essentially under the Bureau of Mines, if something was looked at you could make recommendations, you could say this is how something should be done but you didn’t really have enforcement you didn’t have fines that were levied you didn’t have mandatory fines, you didn’t have things that got shut down and production wasn’t really impacted the same way, so after these miners died you got true enforcement,” Allen said.

That sentiment was shared by Roberts and both men said there was no need for the tragedy to happen before the laws were changed. Roberts, whose father was a coal miner and hails from generations of coal miners, said miners had fought for decades to no avail. That is until disaster struck in Farmington in 1968.

Roberts said the bigger tragedy was that lawmakers and company owners failed mine workers for more than one hundred years before the disaster. He said they did so by denying the existence of black lung disease, by not listening to the concerns of workers and ignoring the tens of thousands of lives that were lost to being blown up, burned up and covered in coal mines since the inception of mining.

From his perspective, Allen said it was just the unfortunate nature of the country.

“Every movement in the United States of America comes on the back of the people– it didn’t need to happen,” Allen said. “It’s just sometimes people need tragedy or need heartache or hardship before they want to wake up.”

Written by: Larmie Sanyon

Union Plus Car Rentals

Source: Union Plus

Save up to 25% on Car Rental Rates

Whether it’s a car, van, SUV or truck rental, working families can get good rental car deals and drive in style for less.

Discount rental car rates and savings vary depending on the type of car or vehicle, time of year, location and length of car rental reservation.

HOW IT WORKS

Enjoying great discounts at six car rental companies is as easy as 1-2-3!

Compare pricing and choose your rental car company.

Make a reservation online or over the phone — make sure you have the corresponding discount number.

Pick up your rental car and hit the road!

Bill addresses pensions, health care for miners, retirees

Source: WHSV

November 6, 2019

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is co-sponsoring a bill with West Virginia’s two U.S. senators and others aimed at preserving the pensions of about 92,000 retired coal miners, as well as the health-care benefits of another 13,000 working miners.

Democrat Joe Manchin and Republican Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia announced the bill Wednesday.

McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said in the statement that he raised the issue of protecting miner pensions and health benefits with President Donald Trump this week, and is “committed to continuing to work with him and my colleagues” toward a solution.

The bill would transfer surplus money from the Abandoned Mine Land fund to prevent the insolvency of a 1974 miners’ pension plan. It also would add coal company bankruptcies from 2018 and 2019 to health-care legislation that passed in 2017.

Manchin said on a conference call that McConnell’s support “helps us get a guaranteed vote, I would think. He knew it was time to do it. I think he understands the longer we wait, the more it costs and makes it harder to do.”

In the past, Manchin and the United Mine Workers of America have been critical of McConnell for blocking votes to secure the pensions and health benefits.

“With this one bill, the United States Senate has taken a giant, bipartisan step forward in keeping America’s promise to our coal miners and their families,” UMW President Cecil Roberts said in a statement. “I am especially thankful for Leader McConnell’s support of this legislation. His voice on behalf of retired miners is critical, and I want to thank him on behalf of every retired miner in America.”

Manchin said Ohio-based Murray Energy’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing last week accelerated the urgency of getting the bill passed and signed before the end of the year.

“We need to get this done as soon as possible to prevent anyone from losing their pensions or their health care,” Manchin said.

Murray Energy joined a growing list of struggling mining companies as utilities switch from coal to cheaper and less-polluting renewable energy or natural gas. Murray Energy, which has operations in seven U.S. states, was the fourth largest U.S. coal producer in 2018, accounting for 6% of total production, according to the Energy Information Administration.

In the western United States, three of the Powder River Basin’s nine producers — Colorado’s Westmoreland Coal, Wyoming’s Cloud Peak Energy and West Virginia-based Blackjewel — have filed for bankruptcy protection over the past year. St. Louis-based Peabody Energy Corp. emerged from bankruptcy protection in 2017 and both St. Louis-based Arch Coal and Bristol, Virginia-based Alpha emerged in 2016.

Written by: John Raby

‘Nervous and scared.’ Coal workers fear for pensions after Murray Energy bankruptcy

Source: CNN

November 1, 2019

New York (CNN Business) – Tom Kacsmar worked underground at a coal mine for nearly four decades. The promise of a decent pension and healthcare for life kept him at this dangerous job. Now, Kacsmar fears those benefits will get washed away by the bankruptcy of Murray Energy, America’s largest private coal mining company.

“I was a proud, hard-working coal miner my entire life. With the stroke of a pen, they’re going to cut my healthcare,” the 76-year-old retiree told CNN Business.

Kacsmar never worked a day for Murray Energy, the mining giant founded by coal king Robert Murray. But like countless other retirees, the fate of his benefits is inextricably linked to the company, which is seeking to “dramatically” slash its liabilities, including $8 billion of pension and retiree healthcare obligations.

Murray built his empire by gobbling up smaller miners, including the Ohio company Kacsmar used to work for.
“I was led to believe that if I did my job, I would have a pension and healthcare for the rest of my life,” Kacsmar said. “There is something wrong with the laws in this country that put the employees last in line to receive anything.”

Murray Energy is the last major funder of industry pension plan

Like many of its bankrupt rivals, Murray Energy is widely expected to make the case that those benefits need to get dialed back for the company to survive.

That would have far-reaching consequences because Murray Energy is the last major company contributing to the United Mine Workers of America’s pension plan. That plan provides pension benefits to about 87,000 retired miners and surviving spouses, who collect an average monthly pension of about $600.

George Shultz retired a decade ago from Consul Energy, a company later acquired by Murray Energy.
Now the 69-year-old worries his pension will get gutted, potentially costing him his home.

Current and former Murray Energy employees told CNN Business they are bracing for cuts.

“I’m really worried. I know they are going to wipe away my pension,” said Ryan Cottrell, a father of two who works at a West Virginia coal mine owned by Murray Energy. “This bankruptcy is clearly to strip pensions and retirees’ benefits.”

George Shultz bought a house with his wife when he retired in 2009 from Consul Energy, one of the companies acquired by Murray.

“If I lose that pension, I’m going to lose that house,” said Shultz, whose wife recently passed away.

Coal is getting crushed

The bankruptcy of Murray Energy puts an exclamation point on the stunning downfall of America’s coal industry. Despite President Donald Trump’s promise to revive coal country, the shift towardnatural gas and renewable energy has only accelerated.

US power plants are expected to consume less coal next year than at any point since Jimmy Carter was in the White House, according to projections by the federal government.

“Although Murray has been able to outlast many of its competitors, mounting debt and legacy liability expenses have become too heavy of a burden to sustain under current industry conditions,” Robert Moore, the company’s incoming CEO, argued in court documents. “The company has exhausted all options and liquidity.”

Murray Energy declined to comment on what will happen to worker pensions, but legal experts say retirees and workers have reason to worry.

Murray Energy “will seek to eliminate or reject the collective bargaining agreement as well as any obligations to fund retirement medical benefits,” said Gregory Plotko, an attorney at Richards Kibbe & Orbe who represented the union and other creditors in the Patriot Coal bankruptcy.

Coal miners can’t rely on the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, the federal agency created in the 1970s to protect worker retirement plans.That’s because the PBGC is not required to cover 100% of multiemployer pension plans like the coal industry’s. And in any case, the agency doesn’t have the funding to do so. The PBGC projects that its program will run out of cash by the end of 2025.

Lawmakers in Congress have been debating for years how to reform this safety net before it becomes insolvent.

‘Nervous and scared’

Bankruptcy courts have in the past allowed coal companies to shed those expenses — a point that Murray Energy didn’t shy away from noting in its court filings.

“Competitors have used bankruptcy to reduce debt and lower their cost structures by eliminating cash interest obligations and pension and benefit obligations, leaving them better positioned to compete for volume and pricing in the current market,” Murray Energy said in court documents.

The company emphasized that it doesn’t take this process lightly.

“Murray’s employees are its lifeblood and Murray has a longstanding history and valued partnership with their unions,” the company said.

Ryan Cottrell, a West Virginia coal miner who works at Murray Energy, with his wife Kendra, son Hunter and daughter Harper.

However, Murray Energy’s lawyers said the company is “simply not able to repay” its liabilities, including its “outsized” pension and retiree healthcare obligations. The mining giant argued it must slash its liabilities to attract the capital needed to fund future operations.

Current and former coal miners expressed frustration at the situation, especially because they took less pay during previous contract negotiations in order to protect their pensions.

“People are nervous and scared. They don’t know what to do,” said Gary Campbell, who works at a West Virginia coal mine owned by Murray Energy. “Why is there no help for us? Why is everyone piling on the coal industry? It seems like we take it on the chin, again and again.”

Pressure on lawmakers for solution

Sheila Slocum Hollis, a partner and energy specialist in the law firm Duane Morris, warned that the impact of these coal bankruptcies can be “extremely devastating” on local communities. Property values plunge, even as the strain on resources rises.

“The country owes these people a lot for the sacrifices they’ve made and the risks they’ve taken,” Hollis said. “If the company isn’t there because of the bankruptcy, somebody needs to step up to help the people left high and dry.”

In this case, even coal miners who never worked for companies related to Murray Energy could be affected. After a wave of bankruptcies over the past decade, Murray Energy is the last man standing funding the union pension plan, which is known as the 1974 Pension Plan. Murray Energy helps fund pensions for people who worked for other bankrupt coal companies but still rely on that industry pension plan.

The company estimates it funds a “staggering” 97% of the plan’s total contributions, totaling $15 million in 2018 alone.

“If Murray stops contributing, the pension plan will be unable to pay out benefits to all of its members,” said Plotko, the lawyer.

Murray Energy said in court documents that if it withdraws from the plan, it would be on the hook for $6.4 billion — an amount the company almost certainly can’t afford.

Senator Sherrod Brown, the Ohio Democrat, said in a statement that the Murray Energy bankruptcy “intensifies the urgent need for a comprehensive solution to the imminent pension crisis.”

Brown pledged to work with lawmakers to find a bipartisan solution to “get the job done for these workers who have worked so hard for this country.”

‘Poor management’

The rise of Murray Energy was made possible by the misfortunes of its rivals. The company made a string of purchases of struggling companies, including Consul Energy, Foresight Energy, Armstrong Energy and assets in Colombia.

“Throughout the downturn, Murray has capitalized on opportunities to make value-accretive asset acquisitions,” the company said in its bankruptcy documents.

Those deals, Murray argues, boosted earnings and gave the company additional assets to pledge to creditors to refinance debt.

Murray Energy coal mine worker Ryan Cottrell.

However, doubling down on the coal industry also further exposed the company to the same challenges facing all miners. And it added stress to Murray’s balance sheet, which the company admits is saddled with “mounting debt” and hefty interest payments.

Some workers argue that empire-building strategy backfired.

“Honestly, he got too big for his britches,” said Cottrell, one of the West Virginia miners. “We ended up in bankruptcy because of poor management.”

Murray Energy ‘exhausted’ alternatives, joins coal peers in bankruptcy filing

Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence

October 30, 2019

Despite its efforts to avoid what its founder once called the “bankruptcy sewer,” Murray Energy Corp.’s parent Murray Energy Holdings Co. followed the path blazed by many of its peers with an Oct. 29 petition for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.

The largest privately-held coal producer in the U.S. recorded $542.3 million in EBITDA in 2018 but faces more than $8 billion in potential and actual legacy liabilities alongside $2.7 billion in outstanding funded debt obligations costing the company $298 million in debt expenses annually. In a bid to keep the company operating, Murray Energy filed a voluntary petition for bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Ohio.

Former Murray Energy President and CEO Robert Murray, who is being replaced at the company by Foresight Energy LP President and CEO Robert Moore as part of the reorganization, frequently cited the added stress placed on the coal market by the number of companies filing for bankruptcy and discharging their financial obligations. Of the top five coal producers in the U.S. by volume in 2018, only Alliance Resource Partners LP has not been forced to file bankruptcy in recent years.

“There simply are no creative management solutions, operational improvements, or strategic or financial options remaining, even for Murray; the company has exhausted all options and liquidity,” Moore wrote in a bankruptcy declaration.

Foresight is an affiliate of Murray Energy but was not part of the bankruptcy filing.

Moore pointed to the closure of 93 GW of coal-fired power generation in the U.S, the rise of inexpensive natural gas and the growth of wind and solar energy, an overall decline in electricity demand, recent utility companies’ bankruptcy filings and changes in legislative priorities as significant factors deteriorating the market for thermal coal.

“What we’ve seen over the last decades since thermal coal has peaked is significant erosion in demand,” said Benjamin Nelson, senior credit officer and lead coal analyst at Moody’s. “We think that continues out into the next decade with about half of what’s left disappearing over that horizon.”

Meanwhile, along with the rest of the industry, Murray is struggling with deteriorating export markets that Nelson said are showing no signs of turning around soon.

Expanding in coal

In 2014, Murray vowed to be the “last man standing” in coal. In a 2016 interview with S&P Global Market Intelligence, he laid out a plan to keep the “best coal company in the world” out of bankruptcy, but only a few months later reported the company was again on the brink when one of its customers filed for bankruptcy.

Murray Energy grew its thermal coal footprint considerably in recent years — becoming the third-largest producer of U.S. coal along the way —by making large acquisitions of mines from coal companies such as Consol Energy Inc., Armstrong Energy Inc. and Foresight Energy. The company also recently ventured into the metallurgical coal space, taking on assets from Mission Coal Company LLCs bankruptcy reorganization.

The company succeeded for some time, even “outrunning” the industry downturn, Moore wrote. However, the debt and obligations accumulated by the company became too much.

“It’s primarily because of the quality of their assets and they’re low-cost that kept them profitable for a long time,” S&P Global Ratings analyst Vania Dimova said. “What was working against them is this huge, big debt load of almost $5 billion.”

However, Moore wrote that the acquisitions boosted earnings and gave the company additional assets to pledge to creditors in exchange for extending debt maturities. The company continued to purchase thermal coal mines based on “Mr. Murray’s belief that the energy industry would come to appreciate the potential value of high heat bituminous coal.”

“Murray maintains its belief that longer-term demand for coal is underpinned in the United States by a practical requirement that approximately 25% of the power supplied to the electrical grid come from coal power generation to ensure reliable electricity during cold snaps and heatwaves, when other parts of the grid will be less reliable or overly expensive,” Moore wrote.

Coal accounted for about 23.4% of U.S. power generation in August and about 27.3% of generation year-to-date through August, according to a recent S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis.

Murray will finance its operations through the reorganization with cash on hand and access to a new $350 million debtor in possession financing facility. Under its restructuring support agreement, a group of Murray Energy lenders is forming a new entity to serve as a stalking horse bidder to acquire the company assets.

Murray Energy needs the cash infusion to pay vendors who have seen the company delay payments and stretch payment terms in recent months, according to a bankruptcy court declaration from Robert Campagna, a managing director with Alvarez & Marsal North America LLC.

Worker impact

Ohio-based Murray Energy employs nearly 5,500 people across the U.S., including approximately 2,400 active union employees. United Mine Workers of America International President Cecil Roberts issued a statement on the bankruptcy Oct. 29 saying the reorganization comes as no surprise and suggesting that Murray Energy would likely try to throw out its collective bargaining agreement with the union and discharge its obligations to retirees, their dependents and widows as part of the reorganization.

“Now comes the part where workers and their families pay the price for corporate decision-making and governmental actions,” Roberts said. “We have seen this sad act too many times before.”

News of the bankruptcy prompted Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., to tweet about legislation that would prioritize workers in bankruptcy reorganizations “because companies like Murray Energy are using the bankruptcy laws to shirk their pension obligations.” Moore wrote in the bankruptcy declaration that while the company’s “employees are its lifeblood,” the myriad of obligations to its employees combined with the cost of servicing its debt has substantially reduced liquidity.

S&P Global Ratings and S&P Global Market Intelligence are owned by S&P Global Inc.

Stephanie Tsao contributed to this article.

This article was published by S&P Global Market Intelligence and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.

Written by: Taylor Kuykendall

Robert Murray out as his company files for bankruptcy

Source: E&E News

October 30, 2019

Murray Energy Corp., the largest private coal firm in the country, helmed by an outspoken supporter of President Trump, has filed for federal bankruptcy protection after months of financial trouble in the fraying coal sector.

Robert Murray, who Trump has affectionately called his coal “guy,” will step down as his company’s CEO and president to be chairman of the board of a restructured lender-owned company, under an agreement with an ad hoc group of creditors who hold the majority of Murray’s $1.7 billion in claims.

He is being replaced as CEO by the company’s current chief operating officer and chief financial officer, Robert Moore.

“Bob” Murray is a firebrand CEO, known for his outspoken political activism, fervent GOP support, and run-ins with unions and regulators. His ouster marks the end of an era for the self-made coal baron and media antagonist.

The bankruptcy had been brewing: Murray’s Ohio-based company sought more time on debt payments due earlier this month, a choice that similarly preceded the bankruptcy filing of the Western miner Cloud Peak Energy Inc. earlier this year and the bankruptcy of coal giant Alpha Natural Resources Inc. in 2015 (Greenwire, March 19).

Murray Energy joins seven coal miners, including two large firms in the Western coal sector, to file for bankruptcy.

The ad hoc group of lenders will provide $350 million in debtor-in-possession financing to keep the company operating through the Chapter 11 process.

Coal was king of the U.S. power market as recently as a decade ago, but it has rapidly lost market share to cheap natural gas thanks to hydraulic fracturing and, to a lesser degree, cheap renewable power like wind and solar, experts say.

Struggling to survive

Despite promises from the Trump administration since the 2017 presidential campaign to save coal — a sector then reeling from a sudden market depression — the Murray Energy bankruptcy speaks to the relentless erosion of the market (Energywire, Sept. 6).
The company was the third-largest coal producer by volume last year. It grew where others failed, while the coal market began to shrink. It had a strategy of focusing on economic mines with easy access to plants.

Murray Energy bought up Consol Energy Inc. assets in 2013 for $3.5 billion. More recently, the company pivoted toward an export market to make up for domestic losses, taking on debt to expand its coal empire.

Murray bought a controlling stake in Foresight Energy LP and acquired Armstrong Energy Inc. assets last year in the Illinois Basin, a region favorable for the export market (Greenwire, Jan. 25, 2018).

The company also bought three mines from bankrupt Mission Coal Co. LLC to expand into metallurgical coal, the high-quality coal used to make steel (Greenwire, March 29).
‘No surprise’

Murray employs more union miners than any coal company in the country and as such is the health care supporter for more than 13,000 families, according to United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts.

The bankruptcy spells uncertainty for collective bargaining agreements with workers, which are often overrun by bankruptcy court in favor of cutting burdens on firms trying to emerge from Chapter 11.

Roberts said in a statement today the bankruptcy came as “no surprise,” describing a power sector where government policy favors renewables and a natural gas glut has created sustained low prices.

“Now comes the part where workers and their families pay the price for corporate decision making and government actions,” he said.

Murray’s company is a huge contributor to the UMWA pension fund. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said today he needs to “talk to Richard Neal and Bobby Scott and others to see what steps they think we ought to take,” when asked what Congress should do to further protect miners’ benefits.

Neal, a Massachusetts Democrat, is chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, and Scott, a Virginia Democrat, leads the Education and Labor Committee.

Hoyer, whose comments came during his weekly briefing with reporters, said he didn’t have a specific answer on how to address the potential problem but pledged to make sure retiree benefits are protected.

The union and lawmakers have been working on the issue for years amid numerous bankruptcies. Several bills are pending (Greenwire, Oct. 23).

The Maryland Democrat also said he found the bankruptcy news puzzling given the administration’s repeated promises to boost the coal industry.

“I’m not going to go to where I’m thinking about, in terms of why in heaven’s name would a company that’s selling coal go bankrupt under this administration?” he said.

The company currently carries $8 billion in legacy liabilities, much of that health and pension funds, according to court filings that open a window into the private firm’s financials. It also enters bankruptcy with $2.7 billion in secured debts.

Murray, a well-known figure due to his bombastic personality and outspoken support for the president, has regularly doled out lawsuit threats to journalists and recently sued comedian John Oliver for defamation.

The coal tycoon was also outspoken during and after the 2007 Crandall Canyon mine collapse in Utah that trapped six Murray miners, criticizing the miners’ union and dismissing the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s findings of multiple violations preceding the collapse.

‘Long term success’

Murray said in a statement today that the decision to file for Chapter 11 protection was not an easy one.
“It became necessary to access liquidity and best position Murray Energy and its affiliates for the future of our employees and customers and our long term success,” he said.

Murray tried to stem that tide through policy and political support, lobbying directly to the White House and Energy Secretary Rick Perry (see related story).

But Murray’s close association with the Trump administration could not reverse the trend: Coal has gone from providing half the nation’s electricity to providing little more than a quarter.
The coal-favoring agenda of the White House included revising down regulations that threatened coal such as the emissions-cutting Clean Power Plan and the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards.

Early attempts by the Trump administration to lend coal a helping hand appeared to mirror the direction of Murray’s presidential “action plan” — a list of prewritten executive orders Murray presented to the administration in early 2017 that E&E News obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. They included a retreat from the Paris climate agreement and a number of deregulatory actions (Greenwire, June 6, 2018).

‘No cards left to play’

Though coal has continued to struggle, Murray has remained an outspoken supporter of the president. He hosted a private fundraiser for the president’s 2020 campaign earlier this year in Wheeling, W.Va., and donated nearly $300,000 personally to the Trump Victory Committee in the most recent reporting period (Greenwire, Oct. 16).
Murray has long lambasted the government for its failure to save the industry, attacking what he often called a “feckless FERC” — referring to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission — for not creating policies to secure coal’s role as a cornerstone of the power load (Greenwire, Oct. 22).

He has also previously threatened bankruptcy if public policy didn’t intervene. In 2016, Murray blamed President Obama in a notice to 80% of his employees warning of a possible bankruptcy.
Early in the Trump days, he sent a letter to a Trump aide threatening “immediate bankruptcy” if the president did not act to save one of Murray’s customers, the power company FirstEnergy Solutions Corp.

The director of Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign, Mary Anne Hitt, said in a statement today that the Murray Energy bankruptcy was a sign that the coal industry had “no cards left to play” as the power sector continues to move toward green energy.

“As this transition continues, it’s past time for state and federal lawmakers to take action to protect the miners and communities that have long shouldered the industry’s burdens by supporting pensions and investing in a more diverse and robust economy, not bailing out political donors,” she said.
Click here for Murray’s filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
Reporter Kellie Lunney contributed.

Written by: Heather Richards

Union Plus Restaurant Discounts

Source: Union Plus

Delicious Discounts Your Union Family Deserves

Whether it’s date night or a fun family night out, enjoy delicious, union family discounts at these restaurants and many more:

IHOP
Macaroni Grill
Maggiano’s
Lebanese Taverna
Carrabba’s Italian Grill
Bonefish Grill
Johnny Rockets
Little Caesars
Chili’s
AppleBee’s
Ghirardelli Chocolate
Habana Village
Jerry’s Subs & Pizza

Access Your Union Plus Restaurant Discounts

Access your Union Plus Restaurant discounts by registering and/or logging into the Abenity website for Union Plus members.