According to a statement from the Western Kentucky Coal Company, the company has announced a permanent mass layoff and mine closure at the Genesis Mine near Centertown, Kentucky to commence on or after February 24, 2020. “These decisions were difficult, but the extremely depressed coal marketplace dictated these changes. We will have no further comment.” 250 employees are impacted in a region that is already economically depressed. Other mining operations are struggling to keep their own workers and the capacity to absorb displaced workers is lacking.
Parent company, Saint Clairsville, Ohio-based Murray Energy, the eighth coal company to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2019 noting “Although a bankruptcy filing is not an easy decision, it became necessary to access liquidity and best position Murray Energy and its affiliates for the future of our employees and customers and our long-term success. These decisions were difficult, but the extremely depressed coal marketplace dictated these changes.”
In this era of environmentalism and hatred for coal and fossil fuels, it should come as no surprise that the demand for coal for energy production and steel-making has drastically declined.
Politics are a strange thing as the 2020 Democrat presidential candidates praise the workers but cheer the demise of their livelihood, and in the case of Murray, the last contributor to the pension fund of the United Mine Workers of America.It remains to be seen how much of a hit the pension fund and other creditors will take post-bankruptcy and if the industry will ever recover from this environmental nonsense.
Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life or promises for a bright future. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?
