Westmoreland shutdown

How did Westmoreland shutdown affect local mining trends?
By JEFF LESTER, Senior Writer November 16, 2004

In 1993, Westmoreland Coal Co. lost $93 million in an environment of increasingly competitive Western coal and oil and increasingly crushing employee health benefit costs. The following year, the company began a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, and in 1995 Westmoreland shut down its remaining Virginia operations.
How did the company's local demise affect overall mine employment and productivity in the sections of Virginia where Westmoreland operated? And what has happened to production and employment in the years since the company left?

Between 1993 and 2003, the number of United Mine Workers of America members mining coal in the entire state of Virginia plummeted from more than 3,000 to roughly 350.

During the same period, overall coal miner employment in Wise and Lee counties dropped from about 3,000 to slightly less than 2,000 workers. Production wages fell from more than $85 million in 1993 to about $50 million in 2000, rose again to nearly $80 million in 2001 and dropped again to about $75 million last year.

Meanwhile, the tonnage produced has hovered between 14 million and 16 million tons each year for 10 years. Surface mine production has grown slightly while underground production has declined.

The tale is told in statistics maintained by the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy.

Following are DMME's numbers on coal mining trends in Wise and Lee counties over 10 years.

1993

* Coal production: 15.7 million tons - 5.28 million surface, 10.45 million underground.

* Number of mines: 111.

* Production workers: 3,036 - 786 surface, 2,250 underground.

* Wages: $85.2 million.

1994

* Coal production: 16 million tons - 5.58 million surface, 10.41 million underground.

* Number of mines: 125.

* Production workers: 3,021 - 760 surface, 2,261 underground.
* Wages: $85.9 million.

1995
* Coal production: 14.95 million tons - 5.37 million surface, 9.6 million underground.
* Number of mines: 116.
* Production workers: 2,886 - 679 surface, 2,207 underground.
* Wages: $83 million.

1996
* Coal production: 15.6 million tons - 6.4 million surface, 9.16 million underground.
* Number of mines: 114.
* Production workers: 2,479 - 682 surface, 1,797 underground.
* Wages: $75 million.

1997
* Coal production: 16.25 million tons - 6.41 million surface, 9.85 million underground.
* Number of mines: 120.
* Production workers: 2,793 - 850 surface, 1,943 underground.
* Wages: $77 million.

1998

* Coal production: 14.9 million tons - 5.4 million surface, 9.5 million underground.

* Number of mines: 125.

* Production workers: 2,486 - 814 surface, 1,672 underground.

* Wages: $73.1 million.

1999

* Coal production: 14.65 million tons - 5.86 million surface, 8.79 million underground.

* Number of mines: 126.

* Production workers: 2,458 - 770 surface, 1,688 underground.

* Wages: $66.8 million.

2000

* Coal production: 15.48 million tons - 6.73 million surface, 8.76 million underground.

* Number of mines: 130.

* Production workers: 2,172 - 789 surface, 1,374 underground.

* Wages: $50.23 million.

2001

* Coal production: 14.5 million tons - 6.52 million surface, 8 million underground.

* Number of mines: 126.

* Production workers: 2,284 - 810 surface, 1,474 underground.

* Wages: $79.66 million.

2002

* Coal production: 15.7 million tons - 5.94 million surface, 9.8 million underground.

* Number of mines: 120.

* Production workers: 2,020 - 711 surface, 1,309 underground.

* Wages: $76 million.

2003

* Coal production: 14.4 million tons - 6.4 million surface, 8 million underground.

* Number of mines: 117.

* Production workers: 1,959 - 709 surface, 1,250 underground.