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Executives of a bankrupt coal firm in the Powder River Basin received over half a million dollars in bonus payments in the year leading up to the company’s bankruptcy filing, court documents …
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Executives of a bankrupt coal firm in the Powder River Basin received over half a million dollars in bonus payments in the year leading up to the company’s bankruptcy filing, court documents reveal.
Lighthouse Resources paid 11 “insiders” within the company and its subsidiaries a total of $3.3 million, including at least $702,500 in bonuses, in the 12 months before filing for bankruptcy.
These insiders included a president, chief operating officer, treasurer, general manager, two secretaries and four directors.
The company also reported $2.5 million in “payments related to bankruptcy” made during that same period, according to the company’s financial statements.
This comes as the insolvent company asked a federal bankruptcy court last month to reject a $2.7 million pension plan for coal miners, asserting the company needs to cut costs to be able to afford cleanup at its mining site in Montana. Maintaining the pension program would require the company to make annual contributions of about $85,000, according to the company.
The coal firm forecasts cleanup costs at the Decker mine to total as much as $95 million and maintains that eliminating the pension liabilities is the only way to cover those costs. Exiting the union contract would also save the firm about $200,000 each year by allowing the employer to limit overtime, reduce paid holidays, increase employee contributions to health care plans and contract work out, according to company attorneys.
Lighthouse Resources asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware for approval to reject the collective bargaining agreement struck with the union in 2012. The United Mine Workers of America opposes the request.
Lighthouse Resources also asked for court approval to pay five “senior employees” as much as $644,546 in bonuses to maintain personnel during bankruptcy. The company will distribute a mere $19,997 in reimbursements and bonuses to 21 union workers at the Decker mine to stay on with the company during the bankruptcy.
The Decker mine in Big Horn County, Montana, ceased mining for coal in January. A majority of its workers live in northern Wyoming.
