Coal Age

MAR 2017

Coal Age Magazine - For more than 100 years, Coal Age has been the magazine that readers can trust for guidance and insight on this important industry.

Issue link: https://coal.epubxp.com/i/805515

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 10 of 51

March 2017 www.coalage.com 9 news continued vestiture, thereby allowing Alpha to reduce its footprint," said Al- pha CEO David Stetson. "In this case, we will transfer six permits, reduce bonding by $6 million and also reduce our ARO in future years by a significant amount." Terms of the transaction were not released. Alpha Natural Resources Holdings Inc. and ANR Inc. have af- filiate mining operations in West Virginia and Kentucky, and sup- ply metallurgical and thermal coal. Dynegy Comes Out of Bankruptcy in Good Financial Standing Dynegy Inc.'s Illinois Power Generating Co. subsidiary, operator of two coal-burning power plants in downstate Illinois, 915-mega- watt (MW ) Coffeen and 615-MW Newton, emerged from a brief voluntary stay in bankruptcy in early February in improved finan- cial condition after their debt was restructured. Houston-based Dynegy, one of the nation's largest merchant generators, placed the two plants in a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization case in December in the U.S. Bank- ruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas in Corpus Christi. At the time, the company said it already had secured sufficient votes in support of a proposed plan of reorganization. During the abbreviated stay in bankruptcy, Dynegy was able to eliminate $825 million of unsecured genco bonds and reduce consol- idated annual cash interest expense by approximately $45 million, as well as simplify the company's capital and organizational structure. Participating eligible genco bondholders were provided their share of approximately $181.7 million of 8.034% new unsecured and senior notes due in 2024 and issued by Dynegy with cove- nants that are substantially similar to Dynegy's existing 5.875% senior notes due in 2023; 8.6 million seven-year warrants issued by Dynegy can each be exercised into one share of Dynegy com- mon stock for an exercise price of $35 and $87.1 million in cash. Dynegy said the two plants now are in a "stronger competitive position." They are located in the Midwest Independent System Op- erator (MISO) market, which includes all or part of 15 states, includ- ing downstate Illinois, plus the Canadian province of Manitoba. Dynegy has maintained the MISO market is less lucrative for competitive power plants like Coffeen and Newton than the ri- val PJM Interconnection market, which includes northern Illinois and the Chicago area. In early February, Dynegy also closed on the $3.3 billion pur- chase of 17 natural gas and coal-power plants in the U.S. from French-based Engie. The coal-power plants included 635-mega- watt (MW ) Coleto Creek in Texas and 52-MW Northeastern in Pennsylvania. Both plants are expected to continue operating. Overall, Dynegy now owns 50 power plants totaling about 31,500 MW. Coal accounts for 36% of its generating capacity, compared to 64% gas. Last year, the company retired a 615-MW coal unit at Newton and a 630-MW unit at its Baldwin plant, also in Illinois. In October, however, the company reversed course and decided not to close an approximately 650-MW coal unit at Bald- win after it cleared an Illinois Power Agency auction. The unit now will remain in commercial operation at least through September 2018 instead of closing in March 2017. Altogether, Dynegy owns about 8,000 MW of merchant gener- ation in Illinois, most of it coal-fired. On February 23, Dynegy reported a net loss for 2016 of $1.24 billion, versus net income of $50 million for 2015. The year-over- year decrease was primarily driven by asset-impairment charges related to Baldwin and Newton and its co-ownership of the 2,300- MW J.M. Stuart coal plant in Ohio in 2016, and a second-quarter 2015 deferred tax valuation allowance reversal that benefited the company in 2015 but did not reoccur in 2016. New Owners of Gavin Power Plant Will Keep it in Operation For more than four decades, the massive General James M. Gavin coal-burning power plant along the Ohio River near Cheshire, Ohio, was one of the major workhorses for American Electric On March 1, Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke was confirmed as the 52 nd secretary of the interior . Zinke is a fifth-generation Montanan who grew up near Glacier National Park. He has led efforts to renew the Land and Water Conservation Fund in Congress, and has also been a firm advocate for sportsmen and women to gain access to public lands. Zinke also co-au- thored the 2015 Resilient Federal Forest Act, which initiated reforms for revitalizing Amer- ica's timber areas and preventing wildfires by emphasizing local collaboration on responsi- ble timber harvest projects. He has been in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2014, and before that served in the Montana State Senate from 2009 to 2011. He was also a U.S. Navy SEAL officer for 23 years. He retired with the rank of commander. Zinke was the first Navy SEAL elected to the U.S. House and is the first to serve as a cabinet secretary. Former Texas Gov. Rick Per- ry was sworn in on March 2 as the 14 th secretary of the United States Depart- ment of Energy . During Per- ry's 14 years as governor, Texas created 2.2 million jobs and led the nation in energy production. Texas now produces more wind energy than all but six countries in the world. Under his leadership, Texas reduced its carbon footprint by 17%, reduced sulfur dioxide by 56%, and nitrogen oxide by 66%. Perry is a veteran of the United States Air Force. Peabody Energy announced its board of directors that would serve following emergence from Chapter 11: Glenn Kellow, presi- dent and CEO of Peabody Energy; Nicholas Chirekos, former North America head of mining for J.P. Morgan; Stephen Gorman, president and CEO of Bor- den Dairy Co.; Joe Laymon, vice president of human resources and corporate services for Chevron Corp.; Teresa Madden, former EVP and CFO of Xcel Energy Inc.; Robert Malone, former chairman of the board and president of BP America Inc.; Kenneth Moore, former managing director of First Reserve Corp.; Michael Sutherlin, former president and CEO of Joy Global Inc.; and Shaun Usmar, CEO of Triple Flag Mining Finance Ltd. m p e o p l e i n t h e n e w s Ryan Zinke Glenn Kellow Rick Perry

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Coal Age - MAR 2017