Vol. 72/No. 31      August 4, 2008

Aquila won a settlement against C.W. Mining for almost $25 million after the company failed to deliver about 1 million tons of coal in 2004-2005. It had agreed to supply 2.5 million tons of coal between 2003 and 2008. C.W. Mining delivered only 160,000 tons of coal from January 2004 until April 2005 when it broke the contract. The company claimed it was exempt from contractual agreement because of disrupted production due to a labor dispute at the mine.

The labor dispute was the three-year struggle by miners at Co-Op to win recognition of the United Mine Workers (UMWA) as their union. It began in September 2003 when 75 miners walked off the job over the firing of a fellow miner. Workers there demanded to be represented by the UMWA, not the company union that existed at the mine.

Five entities, all owned by the Kingston family that runs C.W. Mining, filed the suit against Aquila. They were joined in the legal action by the International Association of United Workers union, the company union at the Co-Op mine. The suit asks for $217 million in damages and claims Aquila has prevented the company from purchasing mining equipment needed to cut coal so it can meet its debts.

Aquila has been garnishing funds from all known business entities owned by the Kingston family. It has taken $275,000 from its Bank of Utah account, and prevented Kingston-owned Standard Industries Inc. from receiving $2.7 million from the sale of the Co-Op mine. Standard Industries sold the mine in November to UtahAmerican Energy Inc., a subsidiary owned by Robert Murray.

Murray Energy’s Genwall Resources, which operated the Crandall Canyon mine in the same area of Utah, was fined $1.6 million July 24 by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (see article on this page). Citing violations it called “highly negligent” and showing reckless disregard for safety the report found the mine owner responsible for the deaths of six miners who were entombed when the mine collapsed last August.
 
 
Related articles:
Labor Department: safety agency and bosses responsible for fatal mine collapse last year  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home