(Source: Moneywatch, October 17, 2018)
NEW YORK — A Tennessee coal mining company that filed for bankruptcy this week is the second coal company to go bankrupt during Donald Trump’s pro-coal presidency. It’s also the fifth U.S. coal industry bankruptcy in the last three years as competitors in the energy market continue to drive coal into the dust pile. Competition from other energy sources — super-cheap natural gas in particular — has been the main culprit. Obama-era “clean coal” regulations scuttled earlier this year by the Trump administration has played just a small role in the industry’s collapse, experts say. About 800 workers and as many retirees would be affected by the bankruptcy, said a spokesman for the mine workers union. “Once again, a company is going into court seeking to shed its debts and restructure itself on the backs of its workers and retirees,” the union said in a statement. “Neither the miners nor the retirees did anything to cause this bankruptcy, but they will be expected to give up the most nevertheless.”
Full story: CBS News