US largest private coal company files for bankruptcy

[essentialsaltes]

The slow death of the American coal industry has forced Murray Energy, the largest private coal miner in the United States, to file for bankruptcy protection Tuesday.

The bankruptcy underscores the enormous pressure facing coal miners. A string of coal companies have already filed for bankruptcy, but Murray Energy is among the most powerful and well-connected firms in the industry. Murray Energy and its subsidiaries have 7,000 employees and operate 17 active mines in Alabama, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, Utah, and West Virginia.
President Donald Trump's election in 2016 had raised hopes in the coal industry for a revival. The president moved swiftly to slash environmental regulations and even installed a former coal lobbyist to lead the US Environmental Protection Agency. But the deregulatory push has been overwhelmed by market forces. Coal just can't compete with cheap natural gas and the plunging cost of solar, wind and other forms of renewable energy.

 

[Nithavela]

 

[timewerx]

We'll miss the good 'ol days!

 

[cow451]

Dear Coal Country: You got pranked.

 

[Nithavela]

Shmooze em and loose em Donny strikes again.

 

[mala]

I'd say I feel sorry for the miners but honestly I don't anymore. My sympathy for them ran out a long time ago. Hopefully they are able to get what they can out of Robert Murray who is a rather despicable and disgusting thing that masquerades as a human.

 

[Go Braves]

Donald's always been big on blowing smoke.

 

[Aryeh Jay]

Lies! Lies! All Lies! The coal industry is doing just fine and all the coal miners are reaping the rewards of the President bringing back all the coal jobs. USA! USA!

Crooked Hillary wanted to starve the miners to death and OUTLAW coal! Lock her up! Lock her up!

Donald Trump knows more about the coal business than anybody else and he is doing just fine, just like coal, and will be around for a long, long time, just like all the coal jobs he saved! 2020! 2020! USA! USA

 

[Aldebaran]

Lies! Lies! All Lies! The coal industry is doing just fine and all the coal miners are reaping the rewards of the President bringing back all the coal jobs. USA! USA!

Crooked Hillary wanted to starve the miners to death and OUTLAW coal! Lock her up! Lock her up!

Donald Trump knows more about the coal business than anybody else and he is doing just fine, just like coal, and will be around for a long, long time, just like all the coal jobs he saved! 2020! 2020! USA! USA

Why are you blaming Trump for this? Remember this line: “If somebody wants to build a coal-fired power plant, they can. It’s just that it will bankrupt them,” ?
Uttered in 2008, still haunting Obama

 

[essentialsaltes]

Why are you blaming Trump for this?

'I alone can fix it,' Trump said

 

[Aldebaran]

'I alone can fix it,' Trump said

Then should we ignore history and forget who alone (proudly) caused it? Shall we also forget which political party that person belongs to that wants to regain the White House and bring about more bankruptcies?

 

[essentialsaltes]

Then should we ignore history and forget who alone (proudly) caused it? Shall we also forget which political party that person belongs to that wants to regain the White House and bring about more bankruptcies?

From the OP:

"But the deregulatory push has been overwhelmed by market forces. Coal just can't compete"

From your link: "Of course, cap and trade [Obama's plan] is long dead."

The free market killed coal.

 

[Nithavela]

Then should we ignore history and forget who alone (proudly) caused it? Shall we also forget which political party that person belongs to that wants to regain the White House and bring about more bankruptcies?

You make it sound like Obama is stronger than Trump.

 

[Aldebaran]

You make it sound like Obama is stronger than Trump.

What does it have to do with who is "stronger"? I simply pointed out that a democrat party president is the one who intentionally set in motion the events that led to the bankruptcy of the coal industry, and here we have people blaming Trump for it. Place blame for something squarely where it belongs and learn from it instead of looking to blame Trump for everything that happens.

 

[Aldebaran]

From the OP:

"But the deregulatory push has been overwhelmed by market forces. Coal just can't compete"

From your link: "Of course, cap and trade [Obama's plan] is long dead."

The free market killed coal.

Actually, Obama killed the demand for coal by bankrupting anyone who wanted to open or run a power plant that uses it. That's not the "free market". That's government interference of the market.

 

[JackRT]

Actually, Obama killed the demand for coal by bankrupting anyone who wanted to open or run a power plant that uses it. That's not the "free market". That's government interference of the market.

I would like to see some rationale for your POV.

 

[cow451]

I have lived in coal country. Coal has been dying for decades.

 

[JackRT]

"I was born one morning when the sun didn't shine. I picked my shovel and I walked to the mine."

That pretty much summarizes the exploitation of the coal miner. He was expendable and still is. The Trump administration has cancelled health, safety and environmental regulations. He is complicit too.

 

[iluvatar5150]

Actually, Obama killed the demand for coal by bankrupting anyone who wanted to open or run a power plant that uses it. That's not the "free market". That's government interference of the market.

Not necessarily. If the coal industry causes externalities (and it does), then the market isn’t really free; it’s distorted. The proper role of government in that case is to correct those distortions by finding a way to make the firms involved in an industry bear all of the costs of that industry. If the industry can’t bear the true costs of its operations... oh well.

 

[rambot]

Why are you blaming Trump for this? Remember this line: “If somebody wants to build a coal-fired power plant, they can. It’s just that it will bankrupt them,” ?
Uttered in 2008, still haunting Obama

And he was right. Did you not see the reasons for the demise of coal?
Cheap natural gas (also cleaner)
Plummeting price of renewables

I'm sorry your free market is steering you towards an alternative you don't like but so it is. Obama was actually quite prescient. But I know you'd hate to give him that one.

Are you gonna try to pin this on Obama now tho?