September 30, 2004

UMWA Applauds Judge's Decision

Staff
MetroNews Morning News

There may be some hope for workers at Horizon Natural Resources after all. A Kentucky judge Tuesday temporarily blocked the sale of Horizon's mining operations to Massey Energy.

U.S. District Judge Henry Wilhoit, Jr. granted a temporary stay against a federal bankruptcy judge's earlier ruling that allowed bankrupted Horizon to sell its properties to Massey. An earlier decision by Judge William S. Howard also allowed Horizon to cancel workers' and retirees' health care benefits and lay off several hundred miners. Horizon has several operations in West Virginia, including a large underground operation in eastern Kanawha County at Cannelton.

UMWA Local 8843 President Bolts Willis says the union is pleased with the judge's ruling and will continue to fight. He says they knew something wasn't right with Judge Howard's ruling. "We knew there was something gone awry in the judicial system and maybe some things that weren't legal to start with."

In fact, Willis says there were at least two other companies interested in buying the Horizon mines. "He (Judge Howard) wouldn't let individual companies bid on the property at Cannelton as well as other places. He said there wasn't any buyers, which, that isn't true...there were at least two and maybe more buyers that wanted to buy the property at three times the cost of what it was sold to Massey for."

Willis says he's hopeful Judge Wilhoit will reverse the decision. A hearing is scheduled for October 8 in Ashland, Kentucky.