coal

Last year, the Environmental Quality Council (EQC) denied a coal company's permit to mine. Ramaco had sought a permit to create a mine near Sheridan to research and develop advanced coal-based products. Ramaco Carbon is now appealing the EQC decision in a Laramie County District Court by arguing there was a violation of federal law.

More than 300 individuals who own stock in Cloud Peak Energy are looking for a seat at the table in the coal giant’s bankruptcy. Together, the group owns more than 24 percent of Cloud Peak's stock. The shareholders are asking the court to appoint an equity committee to represent their interests.

Westmoreland's Kemmerer coal mine will soon have new owners. The debtors behind the recently bankrupt company will take over and hire a new operator for the mine.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is offering free and confidential screenings for black lung disease. NIOSH is traveling throughout the West and is in the Gillette area through Saturday as part of its Coal Workers' Health Surveillance Program. NIOSH is a part of the Centers for Disease Control.

The Wyoming Legislature's Joint Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee met in Gillette this week to discuss potential closures of coal power plants in the state. Rocky Mountain Power's parent company is considering early retirements of its coal plants finding many of them are uneconomic.

Contura Coal West would like to renew and transfer permits for the Belle Ayr and Eagle Butte mines over to another coal company: Blackjewel. In August 2018, Wyoming's Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) deemed the permit application technically complete.

COUNTY TAXES
Last Friday, Cloud Peak Energy chose not pay county taxes to Campbell County. It currently owes a lot - about $8 million. The recently bankrupt coal giant also owes Converse County several million in county taxes that contribute to education funds in addition to county services.

Cloud Peak followed up its Friday bankruptcy filing with insight on what's been going on behind the scenes. Like many assumed, the Gillette-based coal giant did seek out buyers. The company had international investment bank J.P. Morgan lead the search. 

One of the largest domestic coal companies has voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Cloud Peak Energy warned of its financial problems in November of last year.

Rocky Mountain Power is proposing a unique strategy to lower emissions at the coal-fired Jim Bridger power plant near Rock Springs: reduce its capacity. The utility is required under federal law and within Wyoming's state implementation plan to reduce certain emissions before 2022. Enacted in 1999, the regional haze rule, is meant to limit pollutants that disrupt visibility like nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide.

A struggling Powder River Basin coal company has put off two interest payments again. It will be the fourth extension. One is for debt due in 2021 and the other for 2024. Cloud Peak Energy negotiated with debt holders to put off paying until May 10. Past extensions have lasted a month, two weeks and one week.

A bill aiming to disperse a billion dollars to help communities with coal mine reclamation has passed through the Natural Resources Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. The RECLAIM Act would use funds from the abandoned mine land (AML) fund to clean-up mines abandoned from before 1977, as a way to revitalize communities that were once reliant on coal.

Cloud Peak Energy has worked with debt holders to secure its third extension on a $1.8 million interest payment on a debt that's due in 2024. The long-struggling Powder River Basin coal producer extended the termination date of an agreement to pay part of its debt to May 7. A default on the payment would likely trigger a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

Participants on a not-yet-public call are reporting that Virginia billionaire Tom Clarke has dropped out as the buyer for Westmoreland's Kemmerer mine. The status conference call was held before a bankruptcy judge April 30 to address issues related to the mine's sale.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) latest data projects renewable energy to generate more electricity than coal in April and May of this year. It would be the first time wind, solar, hydro and other renewable energies will have surpassed the prolific resource in monthly U.S. generation.

Coal company Ramaco Carbon is a step closer to developing a mine in Sheridan County, which plans to focus on developing coal-based products.

Cloud Peak Energy is not filing for bankruptcy just yet. The Powder River Basin coal company got an extension on an interest payment today that was due last month. It should have defaulted yesterday, April 14, but a majority lender has given it an extension until May 1.

A major utility in Idaho is committing to 100 percent clean energy by 2045. Idaho Power already finalized agreements to part ways with two coal-fired power plants and is still discussing breaking with a third in Wyoming. It owns one-third of the Jim Bridger plant and is working with Pacificorp and regulators to either reduce emissions or exit participation from the plant. It expects to import more clean energy from the Pacific Northwest.

The sale of the Kemmerer coal mine has hit a snag in bankruptcy courts. The subsidiary of Westmoreland that owns the Kemmerer mine and the new billionaire buyer named Tom Clarke are required to replace bonds to ensure the land can be reclaimed if the mine were to go under. But court documents show the two were ready to close the deal without completing the step.

One of the largest coal companies in the country headquartered in Gillette signaled it may soon be filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Cloud Peak Energy released its annual financial statement today saying it did not pay a nearly $2 million interest payment in debt, which now gives them 30 days before defaulting.

The Interior Department's Acting Secretary David Bernhardt released his first budget request to Congress. The 2020 financial plan promotes an "all of the above" domestic energy strategy. For Interior, that would mean adding hundreds of millions of dollars into streamlining oil and gas drilling and coal mining on public lands. It would also support increased logging within national parks.

Governor Mark Gordon signed a bill into law today seeking to extend the life-span of coal plants. A report from the Rocky Mountain Power’s owner last year found more than half of its coal units were more expensive to run than with alternative energies. That made some state legislators nervous about early closures of plants.