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Coal Giant Peabody Files For Bankruptcy, Keeps Indiana Mines Open For Now
By Annie Ropeik • Apr 13, 2016
Credit bartb_pt/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/bartb_pt/7669702266/
The bankruptcy filing of the nation's biggest coal company will likely have repercussions in Indiana.
St. Louis-based Peabody Energy will keep operating mines like Bear Run in Sullivan County, for now.
But the bankruptcy could impact more than a thousand Peabody Energy employees across the state.
Peabody says it's $10 billion in debt, and this week filed for federal bankruptcy protection from its creditors. Like many coal companies, it's been squeezed by increasing regulatory costs, a global oversupply of coal and the rise of natural gas.
Peabody has more than a thousand workers in southwestern Indiana, and runs six mines there -- including Carlisle's Bear Run, which it says is the largest surface mine in the eastern U.S.
The move may also pose a threat to rural economies.
"For every 10 people employed in coal mining, there's another 13 jobs in addition in the economy of the region that are supported by the dollars that come out of coal mining," says Indiana Business Research Center director Jerry Conover.
That would translate to 2,300 jobs lost if Peabody shut down in Indiana, he says. The company has laid off workers here in recent years -- about 400 at various sites.
Still, Conover says Indiana is a well-regarded source of coal for the energy industry. He says the state might not be the first place Peabody looks to cut back.
"Many of the power plants in our state use Indiana Coal," Conover says.
Peabody has more mines in Indiana than in any other state. Those mines are still operating, and the company is looking for a solution in court.
Peabody Energy
Indiana Business Research Center
Coal Giant Peabody Energy Files For Bankruptcy
By editor • Apr 13, 2016
Pointing to an "unprecedented industry downturn," the St. Louis coal company Peabody Energy announced today that it is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It's one of a number of recent bankruptcies in the coal industry. Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson looks at the larger forces at play with Juli Niemann, an energy analyst at Smith Moore & Co. in St. Louis.
Clean Power Plan Stay Has Little Impact On Coal Companies...For Now
By Sarah Fentem & Nick Janzen • Feb 11, 2016
Alan Berning / https://www.flickr.com/photos/14617207@N00/2621375759
Coal industry representatives in Indiana, one of the nation's top coal-producing states, say the Supreme Court's stay of the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan has little immediate effect on the state.
By many accounts, utility companies haven't been scrambling to comply with the proposed regulations, which would require Indiana to create a plan to reduce its carbon emissions by more than one-third over 15 years.
The stay lets states off the hook until the Supreme Court has its say on the plan.
Duke Energy Expands Edwardsport Plant Settlement Agreement
By Becca Costello • Jan 15, 2016
Duke Energy / https://www.duke-energy.com/power-plants/coal-fired/edwardsport.asp
A settlement agreement between Duke Energy Indiana and several consumer groups concerning the utility's Edwardsport coal gasification plant has been expanded to include an agreement ceasing coal burning at another plant no later than 2020.
The original settlement in September was a response to the plant's rising operating costs amid allegations it wasn't meeting performance expectations.
In the new agreement, Duke Energy agrees not to charge customers for $87.5 million of the operating costs of the Edwardsport plant, $2.5 million more than the original agreement.
Indiana Again Takes Aim At EPA Emissions Regulations
By Brandon Smith • Oct 23, 2015
Indiana is once again headed to federal court to block and Environmental Protection Agency regulation.
Indiana was part of an effort to block the EPA's power plant rule before it became final. The latest lawsuit -- involving Indiana and 23 other states -- takes aim at the regulation now that it's taken effect.
The EPA rule would require Hoosier state power plants to reduce their carbon emissions between 30 and 38 percent by 2030....a mandate Gov. Mike Pence calls ill-conceived, saying it will be too costly for the state to comply,