Murray Energy, With $153 Million in Black Lung Comp Obligations, Files Bankruptcy

Wednesday, October 30, 2019 | 0

One of the largest coal companies in the United States on Tuesday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection because of dwindling sales and mounting debt, including more than $150 million in workers' compensation benefits for black lung disease.

The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post reported that Murray Energy Corp., which employs more than 7,000 people in five states, had become at least the fifth coal company to slip into bankruptcy this year.

The company had about $2.5 billion in revenue and $2.7 billion in funded debt, the newspapers reported. But Murray also had $8 billion in legacy liability obligations, including $152.5 million in workers' compensation obligations for miners who had developed pneumoconiosis, or black lung disease, a common ailment among coal workers.

President Trump had pledged to salvage the U.S. coal industry, and rolled back a number of environmental regulations. But some federal and regional energy agencies did not follow the script and declined to adopt policies that were seen as a way to prop up coal mining.

Coal once powered almost half of U.S. energy needs, but that share has dropped to about 28% in the last decade, the newspapers reported.