Why Coal Companies Love Bankruptcy

If a company declares a fake bankruptcy to run away with investors money it will prosecuted. If it does the same for not cleaning up, they should be prosecuted too.

This is a perfect example of privatized gains and socialized losses. It's as clear as those former mountain tops.

Govt. should simply collect 5-10% of the Coal Sales as tax for reclamation. You pay as you mine, simple. No legal jugglery can then avoid reclamation. 50-year-old laws should be amended.

The answer to this is simple. Enact legislation that requires them to estimate clean up costs prior to beginning. That amount plus 30 percent needs to be held in escrow for cleanup costs by the state. Problem solved. These companies are disgusting.

Throw the board of directors and CEO's into prison until they start fixing stuff. There is 0 consequences to these companies. Only force will change it, goverment actually doing it's job to protect the people.

Why on earth is there no requirement in these jurisdictions for the mining companies to pay into a State fund for what we call rehabilitation? This ensures that, even if the mining company goes broke, there is still funding for rehabilitation and it doesn't end up being funded by taxpayers. That 1977 "reclamation" law needs amending. Offshore oil and gas companies in Australia were selling down to $1000 companies to avoid rehabilitation liabilities but the Australian government has cracked down on it and the sector now has a large clean up bill.

Many of the solutions which people are posting are actually present in Australia, where mining makes up a large part of the economy. As mining operations start and continue operating the government requires a % of profits every year which goes into an externally managed fund - which will be used for rehabilitation of the site post the mines life.

Problem can be easily solved by moving the amount for destruction/reclamation cost to a trust as they destroy the landscape instead of waiting till the end of life of the mine and hoping the company would be around at the time to pay for it.

This is why coal companies make huge political contributions. There is also something called 'engineered bankruptcy.' Planned by attorneys to shed debt.

Surprising that no one mentioned the origin of Lexington Coal. It was a company that was formed by the original insurance companies that wrote the bonds on a bunch of surface mines. Addington Enterprises maybe. The insurance companies were required to pay for the reclamation of mines. It was cheaper for them to form a mining company to do the work, than to just pay contractors to do the reclamation. Evidently, lexington has stayed in business, probably close to 20 years now.

Bankruptcy is a loophole across the board, not just for coal companies.

Obviously the answer is to get deposits from the companies based on the cost of cleanup. The deposit is required to get the license until the cleanup is completed

Big respect for the drone man 🔥

If this really was an issue to the local inhabitants of that area, they would vote in state/federal legislators who would work to solve it. Just saying.

The companies do have to post bonds intended to cover reclamation costs. However, that system is shaky and sketchy, with bonds not being enough to adequately cover the work needing done. And if many bonds are forfeited, the insurers’ viability is questionable. Even most “reclamation” is, as Junior Walk states, little more than a parking lot. And new mountaintop removal is happening now.

They should be forced to clean up after themselves

If they are publicly traded, the best way to go after them is by going after their CEO for breach of fiduciary duty. You the shareholder who owns a share of a now defunct/bankrupt company could make the claim that this is just a strategy.

How about allowing permits to be non-transferable and taking cost of reclamation upfront from companies profits? This should stop this game.

Probably too late now with the move away from coal that's going on, but adequate reclamation money in escrow should be required before opening / acquiring a mine. When declaring bankruptcy that money should be protected to ensure reclamation takes place even if a new owner / corporate structure / the state takes over. Better not to damage the land then reclaim it in the first place though. This is why markets need proper regulation.

"No energy store holds enough energy to extract an amount of energy equal to the total energy it stores. No system of energy can deliver sum useful energy in excess of the total energy put into constructing it. This universal truth applies to all systems. Energy, like time, flows from past to future".