Patriot Agrees To Phase Out Mountaintop Mining

Under an agreement reached with the Sierra Club, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition and West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, three environmental groups that sued over pollution from several West Virginia operations, St. Louis-based Patriot Coal Corp. agreed Thursday to become the first U.S. coal operator to phase out and eventually stop all large-scale mountaintop removal mining in central Appalachia. Patriot says the proposed agreement allows it to postpone as much as $27 million in expenses into 2014 and beyond, improving its liquidity and the likelihood it can successfully emerge from Chapter 11 protection as a viable business.