Workers Handed Pink Slips at Somerset Mine
Reported by Staff
This week the West Elk Mine in Somerset laid off 61 coal miners, following the release of roughly 40 contract miners there a few weeks ago.
The move by the West Slope mine operator is prompted by the nation’s continuing recession and more use of alternate electricity generating fuels.
“Unfortunately, the U.S. coal markets have undergone an unprecedented contraction in recent months,” said Kim Link, spokeswoman for St. Louis-based Arch Coal, which owns Mountain Coal Co., the mine’s owner.
West Elk Mine, which produced 5.3 million tons of coal in 2008, employed about 417 full-time workers before this week’s reduction, Link said.
According to Link, the layoffs were immediate, and that affected employees were given severance packages based on length of service.
“Mountain Coal deeply regrets the need for this action, and we tried to avoid impacts on the West Elk work force to the greatest extent possible,” she said.
Link said U.S. coal demand is expected to decline by more than 100 million tons this year because of continued economic weakness. The slowdown has significantly reduced electricity usage and industrial activity, which drive coal demand.
In April, Arch Coal had announced that it expected a slowdown
because of factors such as its customers switching to natural
gas, increased use of nuclear energy and more precipitation in
regions producing hydroelectric power.
Filed Under: ARCHIVES • Coal • Feature Articles
Tags: Arch Coal • colorado • power generation • Somerset • West Elk Mine
We need to promote export terminals to liquify and ship natural gas to markets in Asia and Euroupe. The US ...
Natural Gas can be consumed so efficiently that the WATER can even be recovered from the combusted exhaust gases.
Going ...
Lack of funding is a serious obstacle for implementation of audit recommendations. Even small rebates will have little impact ...
Re: Natural gas generation wasn’t included in the final analysis but is generally assumed to emit about half as much ...
Disclosure MIGHT prevent pollution if there was a watchdog agency that ruled yes or no on particular chemicals before they ...
Having just read Tom Gray's article 'Fred Udo's bogus numbers' I get the feeling I haven't understood whats going on. ...
I agree with you kirsch. I knew this article had the stench of industry money as soon add I read ...
Can someone explain how disclosure prevents pollution? They can still release air toxins and they are still not held ...