More Trouble in Coal Country: Health Care at Risk for 12,000 Retired Miners and Their Families

John R. Leach worked for Peabody Energy Corp. in western Kentucky for 23 years. When he retired, he and his wife Rhonda relied on his pension and health benefits not only for themselves but to care for two severely disabled adult children. So when Peabody notified them in 2007 that their benefits were now the responsibility of a spinoff called Patriot Coal, they had a worrisome premonition.

“We said, ‘There’s something going on here that’s not right,'” Rhonda Leach said.

The family’s worries were justified. When Patriot filed for bankruptcy two years ago, retiree benefits for thousands of mining families were put at risk. While Peabody eventually agreed to pay for some of those costs, Patriot is now back in financial trouble. This time around, Peabody is quietly seeking to get out of paying for any of its remaining agreed-upon obligations to its retirees.

“All I could think is, you dirty, low-down rotten scoundrels. How could anyone with a conscience do something like this?” Rhonda Leach said.

Peabody’s maneuver is perhaps the starkest example yet of how corporate engineering by coal companies under increasing economic duress is imperiling whatever security workers and retirees still possess after their years of work in frequently dangerous conditions. For the full article click here 

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