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Alpha closing 8 mines, cutting 1,200 jobs in all
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Coal producer Alpha Natural Resources said Tuesday it was cutting production by 16 million tons and eliminating 1,200 jobs companywide, laying off 400 workers immediately by closing mines in Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
The mine shutdowns start Tuesday, while the rest of the layoffs will be completed by the end of the first quarter after Alpha fulfills current sales obligations, Chief Executive Officer Kevin Crutchfield said. In all, the layoffs amount to nearly a tenth of Alpha’s 13,000-person workforce.
Alpha said it was closing four mines in West Virginia, three in Virginia and one in Pennsylvania. They are a mix of deep and surface mines, and all are non-union operations.
Company spokesman Ted Pile said most of the displaced workers may eventually be rehired, either assigned to new jobs in other locations or replacing outside contractors. Only 150 workers in West Virginia and three in Pennsylvania will not have any other employment opportunities with the company, he said.
Though some miners will stay on to seal the operations, most will either be reassigned or laid off immediately.
Support positions will also be cut proportionally as Alpha reduces its operating regions from four to two, Crutchfield said, and two executives will retire Nov. 1.
It wasn’t immediately what other states would be affected by the still looming layoffs.
Crutchfield said the shutdowns and layoffs are a necessary part of ensuring Alpha survives in what has become a difficult U.S. market, where coal companies face a dual challenge: Power plants are shifting to cheap, abundant natural gas, while companies like his face “a regulatory environment that’s aggressively aimed at constraining the use of coal.”
The affected West Virginia operations are the Alloy deep mine near Powellton, the Alloy surface mine near Boomer, the Premium highwall mine near Gilbert and the White Flame Surface Mine near Wharncliffe. The Virginia mines are Guest Mountain deep mines No. 8 and No. 9 near Norton, and the Twin Star Surface Mine near Hurley. In Pennsylvania, Alpha will close its Dora deep mine in Jefferson County.
Toaster
September 19th, 2012
The watermelon analogy for modern environmentalists was genius, green on the outside and red on the inside. I’m sure the prog idiots I know will blame Booooosh because their narcissistic messiah and his EPA can do no wrong.
reliapundit
September 19th, 2012
thanks obama
Boobie the Rocket Dog
September 19th, 2012
To really make their point they should have closed UNION mines. They are the most costly.
spymyeyes
September 19th, 2012
I hope when Oromney wins that he opens up ALL federal land to oil, gas, & coal harvesting operations.
Foget the XL pipeline, that was just going make canada rich, not help americans except for a few jobs.
How about we START to tap the oceans of oil that the rocky mountains are floating on?
Or instead of funding brazil to the tune of billions of tax dollars for explotation of their offshore oil fields we INVEST the money in our OWN offshore oil fields?
Instead of penalizing clean coal and shale oil into bankruptcy we instead INVEST the money to further our use of our own DOMESTIC resources and putting americans to work for generations to come as well as giving our nearly dead economy the help it needs to correct itself?
I was alive to see the creation of the Dept. of Energy back during the 1970′s gas shortages so that we would NEVER again have to go through those aweful times and yet here we are 40 years later and a few trillion dollars wasted on a gubbermint agency that has FAILED in it’s only mission to keep american energy costs down so spectacularly that only since Obumbles has come to office have we seen a bigger failure.
But……since the majority of presidents since then have been repub’s, I aint holding my breath for them to do the right thing either!
The only hope for american citizens is to produce a second american revolution, declair ALL debts null & void, replace the communist gubbermint we now have with a new republic that FOLLOWS the constitution to the letter, switch the tax base BACK to tarrifs and import fees, diband the federal reserve and print our own gold backed currencies for nothing,while making PROTECTIONISM the new law of the land and FUCK EVERYONE ELSE!
The rest of the world has been fucking us over since the fed took over our government back in 1913, now its our turn MOFO’S!
Ya sure
September 19th, 2012
Isn’t it heartening that Obama has repeatedly campaigned on his “All of the above” energy policy ?
By that does he mean he will bankrupt all domestic energy suppliers ?!
Dr. Tar
September 19th, 2012
No time like the present to toss people out of work and try to get them on the government roles.
fxdwg
September 19th, 2012
Just in time for the election. Wake up, miners! Vote Romney!
Stirrin the B.S.
September 19th, 2012
First he predicted it, and then he enacted it. On January 17, 2008 speaking about Cap and Trade he said,
“….So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can. It’s just that it will bankrupt them, because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted….”
And then after the 2010 election rebuke of his policies, he said:
“….Cap-and-trade was just one way of skinning the cat; it was not the only way. It was a means, not an end. And I’m going to be looking for other means to address this problem….”
And now look. Evil is relentless.
Corona
September 19th, 2012
Eliminate the EPA. What was that word one of them used? Oh yeah…crucify them.
shotwell
September 19th, 2012
In the Book,”The Prize”, it describes how the government got envolved in the oil business because we were over producing oil and prices went so low that controls needed to be put in place so that the business could remain profitable. Of course Standard Oil was envolved. I believe this was the beginning of Government interference in the energy problem.
Bob M.
September 19th, 2012
Obama DID build this!
>:-(