Lawmakers consider payment plan for coal mining back taxes apnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from apnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
A Busby lawmaker is proposing legislation intended to let Big Horn County negotiate a collection agreement with a troubled coal company that owes more than $8 million in delinquent taxes to the county.
The proposal has the backing of county officials and Navajo Transitional Energy Co. (NTEC), which bought the debt-saddled Spring Creek Mine from its bankrupt parent company last year. But some Democratic lawmakers and at least one environmental group have warned that the bill could allow NTEC or other companies to ultimately pay less than they owe.
Senate Bill 154, sponsored by Republican Sen. Jason Small, doesnât specifically name NTEC or Big Horn County. But Small, the Big Horn County commissioners and a company representative were clear that the legislation was drafted with its unpaid coal taxes in mind.
Up to 30 employees laid off from Decker Mine could be rehired. (Photo from Sheridan MEdia files)
A federal court has approved a tentative agreement under which up to 30 employees of Decker Coal Mine could be rehired to complete reclamation or cleanup of the mine site north of Sheridan.
Utah-based Lighthouse Resources Inc., which owns the mine, declared bankruptcy last December, and in January, mining ceased and the vast majority of the company’s workforce was laid off amid a sharp decline in demand for coal to generate electricity.
Earlier this week, the court approved an agreement struck between attorneys for Lighthouse Resources and the United Mine Workers of America that would allow the rehire. Lighthouse Resources laid off over 70 workers at the Decker Mine in December when the company declared bankruptcy. Additional workers were laid off in January, and by Jan. 22, when the company had stopped mining for coal, only four union workers were still at the Decker facility.