By Brenden Moore

December 11, 2019 - Though Ward 10 Ald. Ralph Hanauer brought the holiday spirit with his Christmas-themed blazer and tie, coal was the burning topic of discussion Tuesday evening in Illinois at the Springfield City Council’s Committee of the Whole meeting.

Specifically, council members advanced a proposal that would extend City Water, Light and Power’s coal contract with Arch Coal Sales Company an additional five years through 2025.

CWLP's Dallman Power Station

Under the proposed terms, coal prices would be reduced from the current rate of $35.90 per ton to $35.75 per ton in 2021, which would be followed with an annual increase of 1.5 percent, topping out at $37.94 per ton in 2025.

Arch-owned Viper Mine, near Williamsville, has supplied the city’s coal for decades and the city did not put out a request-for-proposal.

This, however, did not stop rival coal company Foresight Energy from making an unsolicited offer to the city. In a letter sent to CWLP election division manager John Davis last week, the St. Louis-based company offered a lower bid, starting at $33.03 per ton in 2021 and topping out at $34.94 per ton in 2025.

Roger Dennison, a representative from Foresight, presented the proposal to council members Tuesday, which city officials said they are looking at ahead of next week’s city council meeting.

“CWLP is analyzing the proposal received from Foresight and has provided them a list of questions, primarily related to their current economic situation,” said city attorney Jim Zerkle. “So we should be in a better position to discuss that effectively (next week).”

Zerkle said that while Foresight’s bid may be lower, it is “a matter of trying to balance the risk with the price.”

Foresight’s parent company, Murray Energy Corp., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October, calling into question the stability of the company and the prices it is offering. The coal company also lost $34.1 million in the third quarter of this year.

In 2018, CWLP’s four coal-fired units burned just under 1.3 million tons of coal, according to the utility.

The coal contract with Arch will be up for debate next Tuesday.

In other business Tuesday:

* Council members advanced ordinances amending the Far East tax-increment financing district’s boundaries to include additional blocks west of its current 14th Street boundary.

If approved by the City Council next week, the amended TIF would extend as far west as the 10th St. rail corridor, as far south as Pine St. and as far north as Clear Lake Ave.

* The Springfield City Council’s Public Utilities Committee will meet Wednesday to hear an update from CWLP on the implementation of the utility’s integrated resource plan and a possible timeline for decommissioning at least two of its coal-fired power plants.

The meeting starts at 5:30 p.m. in the city council chambers in Municipal Center West.