Font ResizeA subsidiary of Murray Energy Corp., which operates one coal mine in Carbon County and is developing a second, said Friday it was laying off 91 hourly and salaried employees in Ohio.
The layoffs were announced in a morning meeting at the Redbird West mine, an OhioAmerican Energy operation near Brilliant, Ohio. Seventy-five employees will remain on the payroll.
Murray Energy executive Robert Murray blamed President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress for pursuing policies that have not created jobs, but "harm our businesses, economy, workers and our families... I have taken great pride, over decades, that I have personally created 1,372 direct mining jobs right here in eastern Ohio."
He said the Redbird West mine has not shipped any coal since Nov. 5 and that a major OhioAmerican customer recently cut its coal order almost in half to 1 million tons next year. "Without a market for our product, we simply cannot employ these very good people and have to lay them off. It is a terrible situation," Murray said in a written statement.
UtahAmerican Energy Inc., Murray's Utah company, operates the West Ridge mine south of Price. It has produced 2.55 million tons of coal through the first nine months of 2009 after extracting 3.8 million tons last year, according to federal Mine Safety and Health Administration records.
In the third quarter of 2009, West Ridge had about 300 employees (265 underground), down from the first of the year
UtahAmerican also is preparing to open the Lila Canyon mine in the Book Cliffs coal field.
