By Chris Kenning

August 7, 2019 - Out-of-work Kentucky miners who are blocking a coal train to demand unpaid wages from their bankrupt former coal employer on Tuesday took a big step closer to returning to work — and getting at least some of the money they are owed.

A federal bankruptcy judge on Tuesday signaled approval of Tennessee-based Kopper Glo’s purchase of Black Mountain and Lone Mountain mines in Harlan County as part of bankruptcy sales of Blackjewel’s mining operations in four states.

Kopper Glo President Hunter Hobson said that under the still-to-be finalized purchase, the company planned to reopen the handful of mines to produce metallurgical coal and reemploy as many miners as possible.

The deal includes $450,000 toward an estimated $2.5 million in owed wages to Kentucky miners and another $550,000 in royalties toward those wages once mining operations restart.

At the protest site Tuesday, miners who started the day cooking eggs and listening via phone to the bankruptcy proceedings from an open-windowed pickup truck were optimistic but cautious.

“We’re excited,” said Collin Cornette, a former miner who was among those blocking a train of 100 coal cars worth nearly $1 million trying to leave a Blackjewel mine since last week. “It’s not final, but it feels like a victory, like the American working man has been recognized for the struggles we have, not just in coal but every industry.”

The miners may decide to stay on the site until cash is in hand, he said. Ned Pillersdorf, who is representing the miners, said he will travel to the tracks to meet with miners tomorrow.

The July 1 bankruptcy of the nation's sixth-largest U.S. coal producer came without warning and sparked financial turmoil when paychecks bounced. It left 1,700 jobless in Wyoming, Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky, including more than a quarter of miners in Harlan County, the site of historic battles for miners’ rights.

Pillersdorf said he and other attorneys will continue to battle for a share of the $6 million sale price to get them closer to the full amount or more under wage laws that allow for double damages.

“We’ve got a real chance to make these guys whole,” he said, adding that it’s unusual for workers to get prioritized in such bankruptcy cases.

Kopper Glo agreed to pay $6.3 million in cash for the properties as well as more than $9 million in royalties.

The miners’ coal-train standoff in Harlan County, which came weeks after the bankruptcy, catalyzed attention from national politicians and news media. Dozens of miners attended the hearings on Monday wearing yellow “Pay the Miners First” T-shirts.

Once miners were on the tracks, news reports prompted U.S. Labor Department investigators to go Harlan County, court documents said. They later filed a motion block the shipment until employees got back pay.

While some relief was finally a real possibility, the long-term impact of the bankruptcy’s turmoil in Harlan remains to be seen. Blackjewel’s collapse followed a string of coal company bankruptcies in recent years.

Blackjewel purchased marginal mines and found itself struggling, said former CEO Jeff Hoops in court papers, bowing to familiar pressures of abundant natural gas, more renewable energy and tougher environmental regulations.

The miners' attorneys said they were investigating whether the company transferred money to affiliated entities before the bankruptcy.

In Harlan County, the bankruptcy caused unusual turmoil even in a place accustomed to coal’s highs and lows. It accelerated a reckoning among miners worn out by years of uncertainty amid coal’s long decline and fading hopes for President Donald Trump's promised coal revival.

Across Appalachia, coal production has continued to fall, by nearly 45% overall between 2005 and 2015, according to the Appalachian Regional Commission. In the first quarter of 2019, 3,959 miners were working Eastern Kentucky, down from 15,147 a decade earlier.

Some of the miners plan to return to coal jobs that pay as much as $29 an hour, which are a key aid to the economy in one of America's poorest regions, while others have said in recent days they were still leaving for new careers or steadier coal jobs in other states.

Hopefully, Cornette said, some won’t have to move from Harlan County, where other opportunities are scarce. He plans to stay in machinist school rather than returning to the mines. The layoffs were the push he needed, he said.

Despite the remaining uncertainty, Cornette praised the protest's impact at a time when local mining union membership has dwindled.

“We haven’t had a good coal strike in 30 years," he said. "It feels good to have had an impact, standing up not just for coal miners but for other workers."