Blackjewel Is Bankrupt; Now Wants To Walk Away From 8,000 Acres Of Stripped, Degraded Land

[hatrack]

A federal bankruptcy judge in West Virginia could soon decide whether to allow the Blackjewel coal mining company, once the nation’s sixth-largest coal producer, to shed responsibility for thousands of strip-mined acres, setting up a potential crisis over clean-up and reclamation of the land.

Bankruptcy Court Judge Benjamin Kahn will hold a hearing Wednesday in Charleston on the West Virginia-based company’s liquidation plan, whichcalls for the abandonment of nearly 200 mining permits in Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee. Most of them are in eastern Kentucky, where the future of nearly 8,000 acres of strip-mined mountains hangs in the balance, as shown in court filings and testimony in the massive bankruptcy case that began in 2019.

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Kentucky state officials have said in court that the reclamation bonding may not be sufficient because of the poor condition of the properties. In one filing, the state cabinet took exception to claims by the debtors that they will through bonding provide adequate public health and safety protections if they are permitted to abandon their permits. “This could not be further from the truth,” the state’s lawyers wrote. “Due to Debtors’ utter failure to abate violations and maintain conditions on their permits, the bonds meant to cover reclamation costs are substantially inadequate on many of the permits.”

The Indemnity National Insurance Co. took a similar approach when it argued against allowing Blackjewel to abandon its permits in a Jan. 11 filing. The company said it had issued $170 million in reclamation bonds on behalf of the company, covering nearly 200 mining permits. Regulatory authorities have “issued hundreds of notices of violations, cessations orders, and determinations of bond forfeiture,” the lawyers for the insurance company wrote. “Despite generating more than $68 million in cash proceeds from post-petition sales, (Blackjewel has) undertaken no meaningful efforts to abate these violations or to ensure their future legal compliance.” The company and its affiliates should not be allowed “foist their primary obligation to reclaim onto the sureties and the regulatory authorities,” Indemnity National wrote.

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https://insideclimatenews.org/news/03032021/blackjewel-bankruptcy-kentucky-abandoned-mines/

[Swede]

1. So they took the money and ran.

As usual with these kind of people.

[TexasTowelie]

2. Defunct mining company vs. deep pocket insurance company?

I'll take the insurance company in that contest.