May 10, 2019
“In light of Cloud Peak’s bankruptcy filing, we urge the State of Wyoming and county governments to aggressively participate in the bankruptcy proceedings on behalf of miners, taxpayers, and our environment. We are concerned that these mines will be transferred to entities with even less financial ability to meet tax and clean-up obligations.
“We are gravely concerned that employees’ and retirees’ pensions and healthcare benefits will be taken away, and that millions of dollars of ad valorem taxes owed to Wyoming counties for coal already produced will be left unpaid. Our greatest fear is that reclamation of Cloud Peak’s large mines will cease, and that financial assurances required by law will prove inadequate. Bankruptcy should never be used as a haven for a mining corporation to escape its reclamation bonding obligations. Cloud Peak has already taken care of its executives with big bonuses, but is on a track that would fail Wyoming miners and the communities that have long supported the company.”
- Bob LeResche is the Vice Chair of Powder River Basin Resource Council. He is a former Commissioner of Natural Resources for the State of Alaska, Executive Director of the Alaska Energy Authority, investment banker and CEO. With his wife Carol he operates a ranch and organic heirloom vegetable farm near Clearmont, Wyoming.
