Coal company emerges from bankruptcy

Alpha Natural Resources has emerged from chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the company announced on Tuesday. 

The Bristol, Va.-based firm became one in a string of major Appalachian coal companies to file for bankruptcy when it announced plans to restructure $3 billion in debt last August. 

{mosads}The company operated more than 50 coal mines and 20 preparation facilities at the time; today the self-described “smaller, privately held company” has 18 mines and eight preparation plants in Virginia and West Virginia. 

“By completing this restructuring, ANR emerges as a company with a solid financial foundation and a strong team to continue to mine and sell coal,” CEO David Stetson said in a statement. 

“We are now also better positioned to satisfy ANR’s environmental responsibilities.”

A federal bankruptcy judge approved Alpha’s reorganization plan earlier this month, allowing the company to give its creditors control of several of its mines in return for forgiveness of its debt, the Wall Street Journal reported at the time. The agreement required the company to come out of bankruptcy by the end of the month.

The final bankruptcy agreement included other settlements, including one with environmental groups in which the company agreed to pay $7.5 million for land and water conservation work.

Before bankruptcy, Alpha was the country’s fourth largest coal producer, mining more than 80 million short tons of coal in 2014, according to the federal Energy Information Administration. 

The company, and several like it, have since been forced into bankruptcy by the downturn in the coal industry. But Stetson said he expects the newly reorganized company to keep mining. 

“I am confident — even though coal markets continue to be challenged by both competitive and regulatory pressures — the company created by our Plan of Reorganization will have the structure, resources, and talent to successfully weather these challenges,” he said.