Bahama Press Photo of Helicopter Crash, July 4, 2019
Pond Creek Mine, Williamson County (Illinois)
Yesterday, Chris Cline died when his helicopter crashed while taking him from the Bahamas to Florida. He is being praised for his philanthropy, which was very generous.
But let’s take a moment to
ponder this question: How does one person become a billionaire mining coal in
the 21st century? This is a cheap commodity with low profit margins
and high operating costs. Cline’s wealth did not come from prowess in
technology, investment banking, entertainment and the usual sources of
mega-wealth.
The answer is that Cline
accumulated a vast fortune by lowering costs of production by polluting and
beating down labor.
To cite one current
example in Illinois: Just a month ago, his company petitioned for a permit to
discharge millions of gallons of wastewater in the Big Muddy River in southern
Illinois.
Cline’s legacy is
summarized by this 2014 briefing from the Sierra Club:
The
financial community lauds the chutzpah of Chris Cline’s Foresight Reserves,
which controls St. Louis-based Foresight Energy. At a time when coal was on the
decline in Appalachia, Cline moved his base of operations into the Illinois
basin and bought up 3 billion tons of cheap, high-sulfur Illinois coal
reserves. It currently operates four non-union mine complexes in Illinois, with
others planned in the future. The mines include Pond Creek Mine, Williamson
County; Sugar Camp Mine, Franklin/Hamilton counties; Deer Run Mine, Montgomery
County; and Shay 1 Mine, Macoupin County.
This all may sound great to an
investor, but Foresight’s rise to success has come at great expense to the
people and environment in Illinois.
The greatest expense of a mining
operation is the loss of life. Since November 2013 two deaths have occurred at
Foresight’s M-Class Mining LLC – MC#1 Sugar Camp Mine, a longwall mine in
Franklin County. Longwall mining provides the coal producer higher return but
at great risk to the miners.
No comments:
Post a Comment