Just a few days after hundreds of workers were laid off at two Wyoming coal mines, another company offered buyouts to some of its employees.
Cloud Peak Energy announced last week that it is offering what's called a voluntary separation benefit. The company wouldn't give details on what's actually in the buyout but it is available to hourly employees who are either 65 years old or 55 and have been with the company for ten years.
Rick Curtsinger is the director of public affairs at Cloud Peak. In an email he wrote that it is a difficult time for the coal industry and that the company is trying to "manage our workforce with the least possible negative impact."
Cloud Peak is still solvent but Arch Coal and Alpha Natural Resources have both filed for bankruptcy in the past year. Coal giant Peabody Energy has indicated that it may as well.