From Think Progress:
Arch Coal, one of the United States’ largest coal companies, filed for bankruptcy on Monday in the hopes of eliminating more than $4.5 billion in long-term debt, according to a press release issued by the company.
The news comes as several of Arch’s competitors — Patriot Coal, Walter Energy, and Alpha Natural Resources — have also filed for bankruptcy. Arch Coal is the second largest supplier of coal in the United States behind Peabody Energy, and its mines represent 13 percent of America’s coal supply.
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As a company, Arch has seen a fairly rapid decline in the value of its shares following a flurry of domestic acquisitions in 2011. Those acquisitions, which totaled in the millions, were based on the presumption that the coal industry would see rapid overseas growth in the coming years. That overseas growth never materialized, with coal consumption several key nations like China peaking, or appearing to peak, in the past few years. In early 2011, stock in Arch Coal peaked at $260 a share — on Monday, shares in Arch Coal were worth less than a dollar. During that time, Arch Coal executives doubled their pay, despite falling share prices.
Good riddance. Arch Coal has been trying for years to build enormous coal export terminals that could revive their dwindling business. They are co-owners of one such project in Washington State - the Millennium Bulk Terminals - which would be the largest in the world if it ever got built. Today’s bankruptcy filing makes breaking ground on this planet killer that much less likely.
The bankruptcy of America’s second-largest coal company, which comes on the heels of an historic, universal climate agreement in Paris, is a clear signal that coal is a fuel of the past, and that America’s future will be powered by clean energy that doesn’t harm public health or our climate.”
-Mary Anne Hitt, Director, Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign.