Murray Energy doubling in size as it buys mines with about half of Consol Energy's coal production

The largest privately held coal company in the U.S., Ohio-based Murray Energy, will approximately double in size with its purchase of five underground longwall mines in Northern West Virginia from Consol Energy Inc., announced Monday. Consol, formerly Consolidation Coal Co., is shifting its focus to producing natural gas, which is competing more strongly with coal as a fuel for power plants.

"Murray will double its workforce, from 3,300 employees to more than 7,000, and boost the company's annual production from 30 million tons of coal to almost 60 million tons," Manuel Quiñones reports for Environment & Energy News. "Murray will also acquire Consol's river-and-dock operations and boost its coal reserves from 859 million tons to more than 2 billion tons, according to a fact sheet."

Robert "Bob" Murray

Murray has been as controversial as it is large. "CEO Robert Murray has been an outspoken opponent of the Obama administration and of regulators, generally, in the wake of the 2007 Crandall Canyon mine collapse in Utah that killed six miners and three rescue workers," Quiñones notes. The five mines being sold employ 2,800 miners, represented by the United Mine Workers of America; most Murray mines are non-union, notes The Charleston Gazette's Ken Ward Jr., who reported rumors of the sale Oct. 17.

"The mines being sold represent roughly half of Consol's annual production [and] are five of the top six underground mines in West Virginia, with nearly 30 million tons of combined production in 2012, according to federal data," Ward reports. For more details, from his Coal Tattoo blog, click here.