Nearly 465 coal miners have been laid off at two of the largest mines in northeast Wyoming and operators blame declining prices and less demand for coal.
Peabody Energy announced it was laying off 235 workers at the North Antelope Rochelle Mine while Arch Coal said it would slash 230 positions at its Black Thunder mine.
Both mines are in the Powder River Basin in Campbell County and each has more than 1,000 workers. Their production totals nearly 200 million tons of coal a year.
The mayor of Gilette is Louise Carter-King who said the layoffs were “devastating.”
“The community will come together on this and we’ll come out of this. But it’s still a very difficult time. That’s what we’ve done for decades and we’ll continue,” said the mayor. “With the news today, plus the layoffs that have happened in the oil and gas industry, it does pile up.”
It got the attention of U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, a Republican who issued a statement that was critical of President Obama for his economic assault on Wyoming.
“I work every day to try to save jobs,” said the Senator. “It’s a tremendous challenge with this president who doesn’t understand the importance of these energy jobs, the massive number of other jobs that also depend on energy jobs or the effect the price of all carbon-based fuels have on the economy.”
