CONSOL Energy Inc. says it has completed the sale of subsidiary Consolidation Coal Company to Murray Energy.
The sale includes five longwall mines in West Virginia. They include the McElroy, Shoemaker, Robinson Run, Loveridge and Blacksville No. 2 mines.
The deal also gives Ohio-basedMurray Energy about 1.1 billion tons of coal reserves.
Murray Energy paid $850 million in cash and will take $2.4 billion in liabilities off CONSOL’s balance sheets.
Pennsylvania-based CONSOL said Thursday in a news release that Murray Energy also is taking on its pension obligations with the United Mine Workers of America.
The West Virginia mines produced a combined 28.5 million tons of thermal coal in 2012.
Tag: Economy
New Jackson County Plant to Bring 60 Jobs
Governor Tomblin made his third major jobs announcement in two weeks Tuesday in Charleston. A supplier for the steel industry, the newest company locating…
Governor Tomblin made his third major jobs announcement in two weeks Tuesday in Charleston. A supplier for the steel industry, the newest company locating in West Virginia will not just create jobs, but also heavily rely on coal to do it.
“Today, 60 more West Virginians will have good paying jobs and the coal industry will have a new customer,” Tomblin said.
He made the announcement surrounded by executives from Carbonyx International USA and representatives of the state Department of Commerce.
A Texas-based company, Carbonyx uses coal to produce a coke substitute for the steel industry. The company plans to locate their newest facility in Millwood in Jackson County.
“It’s fitting that a company finding bold new uses for coal,” Tomblin said. “It’s appropriate that a company has created a more environmentally friendly use for coal and would do it in our state.”
With the initial investment, Carbonyx will create 60 jobs and plans to add more than 150 over the next seven years.
Secretary of the state Department of Commerce Keith Burdette said the West Virginia Economic Development Authority awarded a $15 million loan equipment loan to Carbonyx Thursday, calling it the most significant incentive for the company to locate in the state.
Parkersburg Area Plant Closing on Proposed Cracker Plant Land
A plastics manufacturer that employs 130 workers in Wood County is closing the plant on land where a Brazilian petrochemical giant is exploring the possibility of building several facilities.
SABIC Innovative Plastics informed employees at its Washington facility on Thursday.
That news came shortly before Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin announced Odebrecht had chosen the same site to explore the possible location of an ethane cracker plant and three polyethlene plants.
Plant manager Scott Dansey says SABIC is consolidating U.S. operations involving a type of thermoplastic resin. Some production will be transferred to plants in Ottawa, Ill., and Bay St. Louis, Miss., in 2015.
Dansey says employees will continue to work at the Washington site over the next 18 months to assist with the transition.
Will W.Va. Get an Ethane Cracker Plant?
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin announced this afternoon that a Brazilian petrochemical company, Odebrecht, has chosen a site in Wood County to explore the possible…
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin announced this afternoon that a Brazilian petrochemical company, Odebrecht, has chosen a site in Wood County to explore the possible location of an ethane cracker plant and three polyethlene plants.
The governor was disappointed when Shell announced a few years ago it was choosing Pennsylvania over West Virginia for a cracker plant. And he’s wanted one ever since.
“Literally from the first day of my administration I’ve made it a priority to take advantage of the vast resources of the Marcellus and Utica shale gas reserves to do more than just extract them and ship them out somewhere else but to create manufacturing jobs here in the Mountain State,” Tomblin said at the announcement in Parkersburg.
The complex will be called Ascent, short for Appalachian Shale Cracker Enterprise.
An official with Odebrecht says the company is moving cautiously. David Peoples said he didn’t want to raise expectations unnecessarily. But he was frank when he talked about needing a skilled and trained workforce.
“I was talking to the union representatives this morning and we have a lot of jobs,” Peoples said. “We have over 180,000 employees world wide and here in the United States one of the issues we have is drugs. And there’s a drug testing policy. For all of the young or even for the senior citizens like myself you do not get hired if you do not pass the drug testing policy.”
Ascent’s feasibility will depend on several important variables, including the contracting of long-term ethane supply, as well as financing, regulatory approvals, and appropriate governmental support.
ARC conference seeks to encourage small business growth
Growing entrepreneurship. That was the focus of the Appalachian Regional Commission’s annual conference in Charleston.
Members from the 13 Appalachian states shared their experiences and ideas on how to create an environment that will encourage entrepreneurs to start or grow their businesses into the future, but many agreed it starts with education.
By the federal definition, 97 percent of the businesses located in West Virginia are classified as small businesses with less than 200 employees. Seventy percent have less than 20 employees, which Commerce Secretary Keith Burdette said very telling of West Virginia’s business climate.
“Small business is big business in West Virginia,” Burdette said.
Burdette and his staff joined business owners, non-profits and educators from the ARC member states at the annual conference, which was hosted this year by the only state to fully lie in the region.
This year’s theme addressed building small businesses: “Entrepreneurship: Transforming Appalachia’s Economy.”
“We had practitioners, people who in their own communities work very hard to provide technical assistance, education, capital and incubation services to have a discussion about what it is they do, what works for them and to share those ideas with other parts of Appalachia,” said Earl Gohl, the ARC’s Federal Co-Chair.
The purpose, Gohl said, is to discuss and share ideas centered on how to make Appalachia a viable environment for entrepreneurs.
“In my work, it seems like everyone has a small business they run out of the back of their truck or out of their garage or out of their shed. The challenge we have is to provide the environment for those folks to succeed and for those folks to grow,” he explained.
The conference hosted a number of strategy sessions discussing how to create value chains with local business, how to gain access to capital and start up money, and this session called “Real-World Ready,” focused on embedding entrepreneurial lessons in public and higher education.
“Eight out of every ten students indicates that they want to own a business. Eight out of ten,” said Ron Thomas, Vice President of the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship, who moderated the session.
“Now, here’s the correlating problem, they want to own their business, they want to be an entrepreneur, but they’ve not taken courses or had support systems at the school in order to help them become an entrepreneur. There’s something wrong with that equation,” he added.
“West Virginia has always been a state of small business people and entrepreneurs and so we know they’ve got the motivation. The issue is how to we give them the skills to be successful,” said Burdette.
Burdette said education is the key, but as others point out, it’s not always that easy.
“We have all these now requirements for students now to be able to graduate, science, math, etc., so you’ve got to get a little creative,” said Thomas.
Thomas said the way to do that is to embed entrepreneurial lessons into courses student already have to take, and start doing it at an early age to grow creative, business minded thinkers from Kindergarten up.
Burdette said that’s something the state is trying to do.
“It’s an essential step. We’re doing more in both public schools and higher education, but we’ve still got a ways to go,” he said.
Statewide programs like Lemonade Day have elementary school students learning how to start their own businesses with lemons, sugar and water, while more focused programs like those on West Virginia University’s Parkersburg campus have classroom teachers calling staff meetings with their students in conference rooms and hosting trade shows where students can show off their products.
Gohl said it’s never too early and it’s never too late to start thinking like an entrepreneur and these types of programs, where students are taking an active part in not just their education, but in their communities, are the key to creating that essential environment to support an entrepreneurial spirit into the future.
“The challenge in developing entrepreneurs in local communities is really about collaboration. Being willing to reach out and partner with folks and organizations that you don’t usually partner with. It’s those collaborations that end up producing real results. What people find out is they can do much more together than when they work by themselves.”
Marlinton mayor says downtown fire devastating for local business
Marlinton Mayor Joe Smith says a fire that destroyed four buildings is devastating for his city.
The Sunday fire displaced several businesses and about a dozen residents. The fire rekindled Monday.
In addition to displacing people, Smith says the fire will have a significant economic impact. He says the city has lost some of its tax base.
He also says that streets in the area, along with other businesses that weren’t affected, can’t be opened until one of the burned buildings is secured. He says the three-story building’s roof caved in and it’s not safe.
The cause of the fire hasn’t been determined. Smith says fire marshals haven’t entered examined the buildings because of safety concerns.