Murray, plagued with mine safety citations, lays off 214 in state

Murray American Energy laid off 214 people at its mines in Harrison, Ohio and Marshall counties. Robert Murray – a former miner and the son of a paralyzed miner -- is CEO of the corporation based in St. Clairsville, Ohio that he founded in 1988.

The company blamed President Barack Obama, increased utilization of natural gas to generate electricity and the “extremely excessive” coal severance tax by the state.

Between 2008 and 2012, coal-fired electricity generation declined 24% while electricity from natural gas, wind and solar grew by 39%, 154% and 400%, respectively. West Virginia mine employment  dropped 13%.

Despite this, Murray has increased its West Virginia employment by about 400 jobs since the mines were acquired from CONSOL Energy in 2013.

The Marcellus Shale area in West Virginia and Pennsylvania is ranked first in the U.S. Energy Information Administration's top 100 U.S. gas fields list.

The Murray announcement comes less than a month after the company filed an application with the state Department of Environmental Protection to expand a coal slurry impoundment near the Harrison County mine, formerly called the Robinson Run mine, and four months after Ohio County Coal Co. announced a $45 million expansion of its coal preparation plant in the Marshall County community of Benwood.

Murray’s Crandall Canyon Mine in Utah, which collapsed and trapped six miners, and Murray's Illinois Galatia mine had thousands of safety citations.

Meanwhile, Xinergy Ltd., a Tennessee-based Appalachian coal producer, and its 25 subsidiaries have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Virginia in Roanoke, Virginia.