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Industry Decline Highlights Need for Obama Administration to Move Communities Toward Clean Energy, Sustainable Economies
Contact: Jeremy Nichols, (303) 437-7663, jnichols@wildearthguardians.org

Santa Fe, NM—Withthe coal industry announcing the laying off 150 workers in New Mexico thisweek, WildEarth Guardians is renewing its call for a full transition away fromcoal and for Peabody and other mining companies to commit to an orderly end totheir businesses.

“Instead of helping workers and communities transition awayfrom coal, Peabody and other coal executives are putting people out of jobs ina conceited attempt to stay in business,” said Jeremy Nichols, Climate andEnergy Program Director for WildEarth Guardians. “Rather than laying off workers, Peabody andother failing coal companies should be stepping up to help miners receive theresources they need to move on to more sustainable and secure careers.”

This week, Peabodylaid off 65 workers at its El Segundo and Lee Ranch mining operations nearGrants while Westmoreland laid off85 workers at its San Juan coal mine near Farmington. The layoffs come as industry is in steepdecline because of dropped demand for coal and the accumulation of massivedebt. In April, Peabody,the world’s largest private sector coal company, filed for bankruptcy. Peabody and other coal companies have laidoff hundreds in the western U.S. in the last six months.

Overall, the future for coal is bleak. With the U.S. and the world striving toreduce greenhouse gas emissions to protect the climate, all signs point to theneed to move away from coal as a source of energy. Last year, a study found that to meet modestclimate protection objectives, 90%of all U.S. coal reserves would need to remain in the ground.

“The reality is, there is no future for coal,” saidNichols. “Its time for industry toacknowledge this and takes steps to wind down their coal mining operations inan orderly and compassionate way, not simply collapse and force communities andworkers to suffer in the aftermath.”

Even the Obama Administration and Congress are recognizingthe decline and are moving to support coal-dependent communities transition. Earlier this year, the RECLAIM Act (Revitalizing the Economy ofCoal Communities by Leveraging Local Activities and Investing More) wasintroduced to unlock $1 billion in funding.

Communitiesin New Mexico, including the Navajo Nation government, have already takenadvantage of more than $1.5 million in grants to helptransition from coal.

In a letter to PeabodyEnergy earlier this year, WildEarth Guardians called directly on thecompany to ensure workers and communities are aided as they end their coalmining businesses. Guardians also calledon the companies to undertake expeditious reclamation of their miningoperations. The company has yet torespond.

In the meantime, the U.S. Department of the Interior isweighing reforms to the way publicly owned coal is managed. Responding to mounting controversy over theclimate impacts of coal, the costs of fossil fuels, and industry breaks,Interior is in the midst of holding a series of public hearings, including nextweek in Grand Junction, Colorado.

WildEarth Guardians has called on the Interior Department tomake transition a number one priority of its reform efforts, calling on theagency to “JustTransition.”

“The coal industry is broken and the solution isn’t to fixit, it’s to get rid of it,” said Nichols. “Now is the time for us all to get serious about seizing the opportunityto genuinely and completely move our nation to cleaner energy and moresustainable and secure economies.”