May 1, 2025 - It hasn’t been an easy past few months for residents in Buchanan County.

Many are still trying to repair homes that were damaged in the county’s most recent flooding event back in February and now -- county officials confirming with News 5 -- about 140 employees of Coronado Coal, one of the county’s largest employers have been laid off.

According to Trey Adkins, a Buchanan County supervisor, the facility employs about 600 employees.

The county has an agreement with Coronado, based around tax incentives for the number of employees they employ in Buchanan County.

Adkins was unsure if they still meet the required number following these layoffs, but the board of supervisors will meet to discuss this in May.

“It couldn't come at a worse timemost of the times, from what we've seen - I’ve been a supervisor for 14 years - the layoffs are short-lived but, you know, 6 months, if you miss 6 months of payments you lose your home, you lose your car. That's very unfortunate,” Adkins said.

Back in 2022, Coronado received a $3.5 million grant from the state combined with a $169 million investment from the company was said to have created 181 jobs at the facility.

News 5 spoke with several employees who were laid off.

No one wanted to go on camera because there is a chance Coronado could call them back to work and they did not want to jeopardize that opportunity.

They each acknowledged these layoffs happen but they were unsure if this one is permanent.