{"id":1168005,"date":"2020-02-26T11:53:58","date_gmt":"2020-02-26T17:53:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1015240"},"modified":"2020-02-26T11:53:58","modified_gmt":"2020-02-26T17:53:58","slug":"us-regulators-to-block-planned-peabody-arch-coal-jv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1168005","title":{"rendered":"US regulators to block planned Peabody, Arch Coal JV"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ftc.gov\/news-events\/press-releases\/2020\/02\/ftc-files-suit-block-joint-venture-between-coal-mining-companies\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">has rejected<\/a> Peabody Energy Corp. and Arch Coal\u2019s plans to combine their operations in Wyoming and Colorado, saying it would limit competition and raise prices.<\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center d-xs-block d-sm-block d-md-none'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The joint venture, announced by the country\u2019s two largest coal miners <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/web\/americas-two-coal-giants-join-forces-as-their-market-wanes\/23\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">last year<\/a>, would run seven mines in the Powder River Basin (PRB), where Peabody and Arch Coal accounted for over 65% of all the coal mined there in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>The FTC has requested an administrative trial and, in the<br \/>\nmeantime, a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction for the deal,<br \/>\nwhich could generate $120 million in annual cost savings for the companies over<br \/>\na decade.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhatever the product, the antitrust laws protect customers from mergers that lead to higher prices,\u201d Ian Conner, director of the FTC\u2019s Bureau of Competition, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ftc.gov\/news-events\/press-releases\/2020\/02\/ftc-files-suit-block-joint-venture-between-coal-mining-companies\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">said in the statement<\/a>. \u201cThis joint venture would eliminate the substantial head-to-head competition between the two largest coal miners in the United States, and that loss of competition would likely raise coal prices to power-generating utilities that provide electricity to millions of Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Peabody and Arch Coal replied they intend to challenge the<br \/>\nFTC&#8217;s decision in the coming months, adding they will continue to pursue the business<br \/>\ncombination.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have provided tremendous amounts of evidence to the FTC during an extensive review, fully demonstrating that coal &#8230; faces intense competition from natural gas and other alternate fuels,\u201d Peabody chief executive officer, Glenn Kellow, said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.peabodyenergy.com\/Media-Center\/Newsroom\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">in a separate statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Moody\u2019s lead coal analyst,&nbsp;Benjamin Nelson,&nbsp;said<br \/>\nthat, regardless of whether or not the JV can go ahead, business conditions for<br \/>\ncoal producers in the PRB will remain extremely challenging. <\/p>\n<p>Nelson cited among the reasons for the bleak outlook an \u201congoing<br \/>\nsecular decline in the demand for thermal coal,&nbsp;low natural gas prices<br \/>\nencouraging switching in the near-to-medium term&nbsp;and far fewer opportunities<br \/>\nto export coal compared to other coal basins in part due to social opposition<br \/>\nin the Pacific Northwest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>US government data released in early February show that production<br \/>\nin the country\u2019s top coal- region fell almost 14% in the three last<br \/>\nmonth of 2019 to the lowest in over two decades. <\/p>\n<p>The weak quarter capped a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/cratering-demand-signals-more-trouble-in-coal-country\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">tumultuous year of mine shutdowns and bankruptcies<\/a> in the basin, including Blackhawk Mining, Blackjewel, Cambrian Holding Co., Cloud Peak Energy and New Trinity Coal. Two other miners, Mission Coal and Westmoreland Coal, went bust in October 2018.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The US Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit to block the business combination on the grounds that it would eliminate competition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[949,369,4,2640],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1168005"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1168005"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1168005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1168068,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1168005\/revisions\/1168068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1168005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1168005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1168005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}