Tag Archives: bankruptcy

The world’s largest private coal company just went bankrupt

The world’s largest private coal company just went bankrupt

By on 13 Apr 2016 5:08 amcommentsShare

In a move that has environmentalists hunting for graves to dance on, Peabody Energy, the world’s largest private-sector coal company, has filed for bankruptcy.

It’s the fourth major U.S. coal company to go bankrupt in the last year. The dirtiest fossil fuel sector has been hit hard by the natural gas boom and dropping prices for renewables. Further adding to coal’s woes are Obama’s pending Clean Power Plan and aggressive anti-coal organizing by climate activists.

In a statement, the company said that with the Chapter 11 filing, it intends to reduce its debt level, improve its cash flow, and “position the company for long-term success, while continuing to operate under the protection of the court process.” At the time of writing, nobody had yet had the heart to tell CEO Glenn Kellow that the coal industry itself might not be poised for the kind of success that could eventually revive the company.

Peabody is more than $6 billion in debt. Last month, the company missed a $71 million interest payment and its credit rating was downgraded to a “D” by Standard and Poor’s. Recently, Peabody had been attempting to sell off mines in New Mexico and Colorado in order to stay afloat, but the company’s statement notes that those planned sales have been terminated. (Peabody’s Australian arm is not part of the bankruptcy filing.)

Last week, we reported that Peabody had “self-bonded” to cover $1.4 billion in mine reclamation and cleanup costs, and that those costs were in danger of being passed along to taxpayers if the company went bankrupt. But the company claims that won’t happen. “Peabody intends to continue to work with the applicable state governments and federal agencies to meet its reclamation obligations,” its statement says. Here’s hoping.

In the meantime, enjoy that grave dance.

Please

enable JavaScript

to view the comments.

Find this article interesting?

Donate now to support our work.

Get Grist in your inbox

Link to article – 

The world’s largest private coal company just went bankrupt

Posted in alo, Anchor, Energy, Inc., FF, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, PUR, Radius, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The world’s largest private coal company just went bankrupt

Bankrupt fracking firm suing New York governor to end moratorium

Bankrupt fracking firm suing New York governor to end moratorium

Shutterstock /

Lev Radin

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Maybe he’s to blame for all of your failures too.

Norse Energy is a failure when it comes to its core business — drilling for gas and oil. Despite America’s huge drilling boom, the company is bankrupt. Unable to turn a profit as a driller, the company has taken to suing governments and officials that limit fracking, blaming them for its undoing.

Attorneys for the company’s trustees filed a lawsuit Tuesday against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and two state commissioners, claiming that the state’s fracking moratorium had brought about the company’s undoing. The Press & Sun-Bulletin reports:

The suit asks the court to force the Cuomo administration to finalize a study that will determine whether large-scale fracking — a controversial technique to help extract gas from shale formations — can proceed in New York, arguing that repeated delays in the state’s decision-making process are grounds for a judge to intervene.

And here are more details from Rigzone:

This lawsuit comes on the heels of the [New York] Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) launching its review of large-scale fracking about 5.5 years ago, and nearly 15 months after Dr. Nirav Shah, the state Health Commissioner, was asked by Gov. Cuomo to perform his own analysis.

Norse Energy sought reorganization protection of the United States Bankruptcy Court during the state’s 5-year review process of fracking, but was then forced into liquidation proceedings when the company failed to round up bidders during an auction of some of its New York assets.

“Norse Energy and its investors have lost more than $100 million by reason of this delay,” [an attorney for the company said]. “Since this litigation was announced, landowners have contacted me to thank me for bringing this action, complaining that they have lost their farms and their lives have been ruined as a result of the inability to participate in the shale revolution.”

Lives have been ruined by not fracking? Seriously?

Anyway, the good news is that the failed company has enjoyed no more success as a litigator than it has as a driller.

Norse Energy is also suing the New York towns of Dryden and Middlefield because they are among the more than 100 local governments in the state that have imposed fracking bans or moratoriums as precautions in case the state’s moratorium gets lifted. The towns have so far prevailed against the lawsuits in multiple courtrooms — although in August the state’s Court of Appeals agreed to hear another appeal.


Source
Norse Energy Trustee Sues New York State to End Fracking Delays, Rigzone
Norse Energy trustee sues Cuomo over fracking report, Press & Sun-Bulletin

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

Find this article interesting? Donate now to support our work.Read more: Business & Technology

,

Climate & Energy

Link:  

Bankrupt fracking firm suing New York governor to end moratorium

Posted in alo, ALPHA, Anchor, FF, G & F, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Bankrupt fracking firm suing New York governor to end moratorium

How fracking companies exploit Amish farmers

How fracking companies exploit Amish farmers

Arthur Chapman

It’s no secret that fracking companies engage in some shady behavior. But a report in The New Republic reveals just how low they’ll sink in the rush to exploit natural gas: Energy companies in eastern Ohio — home to the world’s largest Amish population and billions of dollars worth of oil and gas reserves — have been convincing Amish farmers to sign away drilling rights to their land for far less than they’re worth, knowing that because their religious tradition frowns on lawsuits, the landowners will have little recourse for justice once they realize they’ve been duped.

Lloyd Miller, for example, an Amish farmer near Millersburg, Ohio, said an agent from Kenoil offered him $10 an acre to drill for shale gas on his 158 acres, promising it was the best deal around. Strapped for cash at the time, Miller and his wife said yes, figuring, “Hey, that’s $1,500 we didn’t have,” Miller explained. But they soon found out many non-Amish farmers in the area were leasing drilling rights for as much as $1,000 an acre. Miller consulted with a lawyer, who told him the agent had committed fraud by promising that $10 an acre was the best he could get. The Millers had grounds to sue — but that’s something that, in accordance with their Amish beliefs, they’d never do. Of the Kenoil agent, Miller said: “He’s got to live with his conscience.”

The New Republic explains:

Their prohibition on the courts derives from the portion of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus instructs his followers to turn the other cheek, and if they are sued for their coats, to give up their cloaks, too. The Amish interpret this to mean that the court is no place to right wrongs. In 2011, for example, after the Securities and Exchange Commission charged a local man, Monroe L. Beachy, with running a Ponzi scheme that wiped out nearly $17 million in Amish retirement savings, a committee representing his some 2,500 Amish creditors asked a judge to dismiss his bankruptcy case so that they could resolve his debts amongst themselves.

Lest you’re tempted to give fracking companies the benefit of the doubt, a lawyer for Columbia Gas Transmission Corp. told The New Republic that the Amish restriction on litigation is “a known fact to us.”

One local father-and-son law firm said it had consulted with dozens of Amish landowners in the area who had been misled by energy companies in a manner similar to the Millers. The Amish are willing to consult with lawyers, and negotiate tough contracts to minimize the possibility of fraud, but once a contract is signed, even if it’s breached, there’s little they can do.

To make these ripoffs more egregious, the hazards of fracking can have an outsize effect on Amish farmers. A fracking site can take up as much as 10 acres, a sizable chunk of the typical Amish farm, which is usually less than 150 acres. And because the Amish don’t rely on modern farming technology, making a profit on their land is a constant struggle, so being cheated out of tens of thousands of dollars is especially painful.

Some say the Amish should know better than to agree to such clearly undervalued leases. But in some cases, energy companies have made it especially difficult for them by capitalizing on decades-old leases that are technically expired. Proving a lease is expired can require landowners to appear in court — again, something the Amish won’t do.

One possible workaround exists:

Aware of the complications caused by a prohibition on lawsuits, some [Amish] bishops have decided that their flock can pursue what’s known as a declaratory judgment, in which a judge merely interprets a contract. Many are still uncomfortable with that … The process still unfolds in a courtroom, but the arrangement is more palatable because there are no monetary awards involved and no jury.

I wouldn’t count on the fracking companies to suddenly be overcome with remorse and decide to put a stop to this exploitation. But maybe as word gets out about how their neighbors are getting fracked, Amish landowners will tread more carefully.

Claire Thompson is an editorial assistant at Grist.

Find this article interesting? Donate now to support our work.Read more: Business & Technology

,

Climate & Energy

Also in Grist

Please enable JavaScript to see recommended stories

Read this article:  

How fracking companies exploit Amish farmers

Posted in Anchor, FF, G & F, GE, ONA, PUR, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on How fracking companies exploit Amish farmers