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Home › Dodgy Deals ›
Dodgy Deal
Arch ResourcesUnited States

Company – On record

This profile is no longer actively maintained, with the information now possibly out of date
Lead organisation:
BankTrack
Last update: 2016-09-06 00:18:38
. Photo:

Company – On record

This profile is no longer actively maintained, with the information now possibly out of date
Lead organisation:
BankTrack
Last update: 2016-09-06 00:18:38
Why this profile?
About
Sectors Coal Mining
Headquarters
Ownership

Arch Coal is a public company, listed on the NYSE as ACI.

Subsidiaries
Website http://www.archcoal.com/

Arch Coal is an American coal mining and processing company. The company mines, processes, and markets bituminous and sub-bituminous coal with low sulfur content in the United States. Arch Coal is the second largest supplier of coal in the U.S. behind Peabody Energy. The company supplies 15% of the domestic market. Demand comes mainly from generators of electricity.

In April 2014 Arch Coal had a market capitalization of USD one billion, a 12 month total equity return of -1.2% and a Credit rating (Standard & Poor's) of B. The company turned over USD2.9 billion in 2014 and has about 4,600 employees.

In January 2016 the company filed for bankruptcy in order to facilitate its debt restructuring. Arch Coal, saddled with debt since its 2011 acquisition of International Coal Group, has been suffering from a sharp drop in coal prices, stricter pollution controls, falling demand from China and increasing competition from natural gas.

Impacts

Social and human rights impacts

The Adkins Fork mountaintop removal mine risks violating fundamental human rights.

  • Potential water, noise, and air pollution impacts from the mine raise concerns about human rights to water and health of residents of Blair in west-Virginia.
  • Arch's past mining operations near Blair, according to testimony of Arch officials, "would make life so miserable for many Blair residents that they would want to sell their homes and move", which implicates the right to housing.
  • Human rights norms also proscribe the intentional destruction of cultural heritage sites such as the Blair Mountain battlefield.

Effective human rights risk management is no longer "optional" for banks.  

  • Six of the nine banks involved with Arch's most recent corporate loan have committed to avoid transactions that pose significant human rights risks.
  • Seven of these banks have committed to the United Nations Environment programme Finance Initiative's "precautionary approach" to address the social and environmental impacts of the financial sector.
  • New UN guidelines have established a global baseline for the corporate responsibility to respect human rights. Accordingly, Arch's lenders should reassess their financial ties to Arch and strengthen their human rights due diligence mechanisms.

Environmental and climate impacts

As a mountaintop removal mine, Arch Coal's proposed Adkins Fork mine would damage the environment and human health. Recent studies of mountaintop removal mining found that the practice causes "pervasive and irreversible" environmental damage and is associated with elevated risks of cancer, heart disease, kidney disease, birth defects, and premature mortality in nearby communities.

The EPA has been disputing the legality of Arch Coal's permit to expand its Spruce No. 1 mine for nearly 15 years. The expansion would make the mine one of the largest in the region. In 2013, the EPA withdrew a permit allowing Arch Coal to dump contaminated waste from the Spruce No. 1 Mine into local streams.

Arch Coal is criticized in Montana for its planned expansion of the Otter Creek coal mine. The proposed mining site lies between two national forests and would cover 7,639 acres of land. Environmental regulators stated that applications for the mine and a corresponding coal-transport railroad were incomplete. Mining activities have been postponed pending further environmental studies. Last year, Arch Coal agreed to a settlement of USD575,000 for Clean Water Act violations at its Eastern Kentucky mines.


Other impacts

Arch Coal's proposed Adkins Fork mountaintop removal mine would have major negative historic preservation impacts. The mine would destroy the heart of the Blair Mountain battlefield site, which has been acknowledged to be historically significant by both the National Register of Historic Places and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Financiers
Institution type
Finance type
Year

Above banks were involved in a November 2012 syndicated term loan to Arch Coal, issued November 2012, that will mature in June 2019.

Projects
There are no active project profiles for Arch Resources now.

Mountain top removal coal mining

United States
Project
On record
Coal Mining

Mountain top removal coal mining

United States
News
BankTrack
Partners
Blog
External
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Arch Coal abandons plans for controversial mine in Montana

2016-03-10 | The Los Angeles Times
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Arch Coal Accused of Funding a Leading Climate-Denial Litigator

2016-02-29 | TriplePundit
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Bankruptcy Filing Shows Arch Coal Funding for Climate Denial Group

2016-02-24 | The Huffington Post
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Five Stories To Watch in the Arch Coal Bankruptcy

2016-02-02 | The Sightline Institute
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Arch Coal's bankruptcy: More gloom for the industry

2016-01-11 | CBS News
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Arch Coal Lenders Said to Pick Front-Runner for Agent Role

2015-08-25 | Bloomberg
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Barclays cuts ties with mountaintop removal coal, says MTR will be "phased out" soon

Barclays was the world's top lender to mountaintop removal coal firms prior to announcing new policy
2015-04-07 | Berkeley | Rainforest Action Network
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

A New Tack in the War on Mining Mountains

2015-03-09 | The New York Times
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

PNC Bank reduces financing for coal mining projects involving mountaintop removal

2015-03-03 | The Guardian
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Morning Energy Roundup: A bad start to 2014 for Wyoming coal

2014-05-27 | Trib.Com
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Crédit Agricole challenged at AGM to stop finance for mountain destruction

2014-05-21 | Paris | Les Amis de la Terre
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Why Arch Coal, Medidata Solutions, and bebe stores Tumbled Today

2014-04-22 | Fool
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Report Finds Top Banks Moving Away From Coal: Citigroup and Barclays seen as laggards

Fifth annual coal finance report shows JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo end financing for mountaintop removal coal
2014-04-17 | San Francisco | Rainforest Action Network
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Arch Denied by Top U.S. Court on West Virginia Permit

2014-03-24
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Norway Rejects Ban on Coal Investments for Biggest Wealth Fund

2014-03-20 | Bloomburg BusinessWeek
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Arch Coal on Asset Divestment Mode

2014-03-06 | Yahoo Finance
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Will These Coal Companies Recover?

2014-02-20 | Daily Finance
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Millennium Backers In Dire Straits

2013-10-16 | SightLine
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Arch Coal shares fall after Goldman downgrade

2013-09-27 | Businessweek
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

NGOs criticise poor performance new leadership Deutsche Bank

2013-05-22 | Berlin | urgewald & Facing Finance
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

New Coal Finance Report Card Exposes Risk of Extreme Energy Investments

Banks pump $20 billion into coal despite U.S. coal industry decline and escalating climate impacts
2013-04-29 | San Francisco | Rainforest Action Network
Resources
Documents
Links
2015-01-01 00:00:00

Arch Coal annual report 2014

Annual report
2015-01-01 00:00:00
2013-12-10 00:00:00

Dirty Profits II

Report on Companies and Financial Institutions Benefiting from Violations of Human Rights
NGO document
2013-12-10 00:00:00 | Facing Finance
2013-01-01 00:00:00

Arch Coal annual Report 2013

Annual report
2013-01-01 00:00:00
2013-01-01 00:00:00

Arch Coal CSR report 2011-2012

Annual report
2013-01-01 00:00:00

Arch Coal restructuring

Updates

2016

2016-01-11 00:00:00 | Arch Coal files for bankruptcy

Arch Coal, the second-largest U.S. coal miner, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with a plan to cut $4.5 billion in debt from its balance sheet in the midst of a prolonged downturn in the coal industry. Arch Coal, saddled with debt since its 2011 acquisition of International Coal Group, has been suffering from a sharp drop in coal prices, stricter pollution controls, falling demand from China and increasing competition from natural gas.

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