Businessweek

Westmoreland Coal Company operates as an energy company. The company’s operations include six surface coal mines in Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota and Texas, and two coal-fired power-generating units in North Carolina. It sold 21.8 million tons of coal in 2011. Segments The company operates in Coal and Power segments. Coal The Coal segment focuses on coal markets where the company takes the use of customer proximity and strategically located rail transportation. As of December 31, 2011, approximately two-thirds of coal production was mine mouth, governed by long-term coal contracts with neighboring power plants. The remaining coal production was sold on the open market. Two-thirds of coal production comes from sub-bituminous coal reserves located in the Northern Powder River Basin, as of December 31, 2011. The remaining third of production is lignite. In 2011, the company sold 21.8 million tons of coal. The company had an estimated 367.9 million tons of total proven or probable coal reserves, as of December 31, 2011. The company is a party to coal leases with the federal government, state governments, and private parties at Absaloka, Rosebud, Beulah, Savage and Jewett Mines. In 2011, the company leased approximately 8,800 acres of coal from a private party, representing an estimated 158.0 million tons of Rosebud McKay coal resources, adjacent to Absaloka Mine. The company is a party to 2 leases with the Crow Tribe covering 18,406 acres of land at Absaloka Mine. Customers: The company sells all of the coal that it produces to plants that generate electricity. In 2011, it sold coal to four power plants: Colstrip Units 3&4, Limestone Generating Station, Colstrip Units 1&2, and Sherburne County Station. Power The Power segment owns 2 coal-fired power-generating units in Weldon, North Carolina with a total capacity of approximately 230 megawatts, which are referred to collectively as ROVA. ROVA purchases coal under long-term contracts from coal suppliers with identified reserves located in Central Appalachia. Customers: ROVA supplies power to Dominion Virginia Power under long-term contracts. Regulation Resource Conservation and Recovery Act: The company may generate wastes, including ‘solid’ wastes and ‘hazardous’ wastes that are subject to the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and comparable state statutes. Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act: Under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, also known as CERCLA or Superfund, and similar state laws, responsibility for the entire cost of cleanup of a contaminated site, as well as natural resource damages, can be imposed upon current or former site owners or operators, or upon any party who released one or more designated ‘hazardous substances’ at the site, regardless of the lawfulness of the original activities that led to the contamination. History Westmoreland Coal Company was founded in 1854. The company was incorporated in 1910 in Delaware.