Peabody Energy

Early years (1883–1959)

The Peabody Energy company was founded as Peabody, Daniels & Company in 1883 by Francis Peabody, the son of a prominent Chicago lawyer, and a partner. The company bought coal from established mines and sold it to homes and businesses in the Chicago area. In the late 1880s, Francis Peabody bought out his partner's share of the business and the company was incorporated in the state of Illinois under the name Peabody Coal Company in 1890. In 1895, it began operations of its first mine in Williamson County, Illinois and later expanded its operations in Illinois. In 1913, the company won its first long-term contract to supply Chicago Edison Company, the predecessor to utility Commonwealth Edison. The company's growth continued after World War I and the corporation went public for the first time in 1929 with a listing on the Midwest Stock Exchange, and in 1949 was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Despite being ranked eighth among the country's top coal producers in the mid-1950s, Peabody began to lose market share to companies operating cost-efficient surface mining operations. To address the situation, it entered into merger talks with Sinclair Coal Company. A merger between the two companies occurred in 1955, resulting in the transfer of Peabody's headquarters to St. Louis, Missouri. The merged company retained the Peabody name. Under the leadership of chairman Russell Kelce, the company expanded production and sales.

1960–2000

In 1962, Peabody expanded into the Pacific with the opening of mining operations in Queensland, Australia. During this period Peabody also forged an equity partnership with the Japanese trading company Mitsui & Co, and the Australian construction company Thiess. In 1968, the company was purchased by the Kennecott Copper Corporation. However, the Federal Trade Commission challenged the purchase as an antitrust violation. In 1976, the FTC ordered Kennecott to divest itself of Peabody. The newly created Peabody Holding Company purchased the Peabody Coal business of Kennecott for $1.1 billion, and a consortium of companies controlled Peabody-Holding.

Because of a federal contract with the Tennessee Valley Authority, the company was among 153 named in 1978 discrimination complaint with the Department of Labor Office of Federal Contract Compliance Program. The complaint, filed by the Coal Employment Project, a women's advocacy organization, was based upon Executive Order 11246 signed in 1965 by U.S. President Lyndon Johnson, which bars sex discrimination by companies with federal contracts. The complaint called for the hiring of one woman for every three inexperienced men until women constituted 20 percent of the workforce. This legal strategy was successful. Almost 3,000 women were hired by the close of 1979 as underground miners.

In the 1980s, Peabody expanded its operations in the Eastern United States, acquiring the West Virginia coal mines of Armco in 1984. The company sought to broaden its metallurgical coal portfolio through the purchase of Eastern Gas and Fuel Associates' seven West Virginia mines in 1987. Peabody also expanded westward, opening the North Antelope and Rochelle mines in the low sulfur Wyodak seam in the heart of Wyoming's Powder River Basin in 1983 and 1984, respectively.

The passage of the Clean Air Act amendments in 1990 prompted the closure of some Peabody mines. However, other mines under its ownership were able to remain in operation due to the implementation of new equipment and procedures that reduced sulfur dioxide emissions. Stricter requirements outlined in Phase II of the legislation also prompted Peabody to invest in emissions-reducing technologies. In 1990, the U.K.-based conglomerate Hanson, one of the owners of Peabody Holding at the time, bought out the rest of the owners.

In 1993, Peabody Energy expanded their holdings in the Pacific with the acquisition of three mines in Australia and subsequently developed a fourth operation in New South Wales. Peabody also expanded its operations domestically with acquisitions in New Mexico in 1993 and Wyoming in 1994 and assumed a stake in Black Beauty, a Midwest producer, in response to increased demand for metallurgical coal.

2001–2009

In 1996, Hanson demerged Peabody and Eastern Group under the name The Energy Group. When TXU acquired The Energy Group, Peabody was sold to Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking Partners. The company filed an initial public offering (IPO) in May 2001, and since this time it has operated as a publicly traded company. In 2002, Peabody launched its Peabody Energy Australia Coal Co. following the acquisition of the Wilkie Creek Mine in Queensland's Surat Basin. The North Goonyella coal mine was acquired by Peabody in 2004. In October 2006, Peabody completed an acquisition of Excel Coal Limited, an independent coal company in Australia. Peabody paid $1.52 billion for Excel and also assumed $227 million of Excel's debt. At the time, Excel owned three operating mines and three development-stage mines in Australia. Additionally, Excel had an estimated 500 million tons of proven and probable coal reserves.

Lines of business

Peabody Energy's world headquarters is in St. Louis. As of 2014, it also maintained offices in London, Beijing, Singapore, Brisbane, Sydney, Essen, Balikpapan, and Jakarta. In the U.S. West, Peabody operates Powder River Basin operations in Wyoming as well as other mining operations in Arizona and New Mexico. Operations in the U.S. Midwest consist of mines in Indiana and Illinois. Peabody also operates a single underground mine in Colorado. All of these assets are occupied with the mining, preparation, and selling of coal to utility companies or steelmakers.

Peabody's Australian operations consist of metallurgical and thermal coal mining operations in Queensland and New South Wales. Purchasers of its coal product include Australian utility companies or steel producers.

The Trading and Brokerage function is primarily concerned with the brokering of coal sales, trading coal, and freight or freight-related contracts. A smaller division of Peabody Energy deals with mining, export, and transportation joint ventures, energy-related commercial activities, and the management of Peabody's operations and holdings. With a growing demand for coal across Asian markets, especially in China, Indonesia, and India, Peabody has expanded its presence in Asia through offices in China, Indonesia, and Singapore.

Marketing, public relations, and lobbying

American Legislative Exchange Council

Kelly Mader represented Peabody Energy on the Private Enterprise Board of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and Peabody has funded ALEC.

Black Mesa controversy

In 1964 Peabody Energy subsidiary Peabody Western Coal signed a series of lease agreements with the Navajo tribe and two years later with the Hopi tribe for mineral rights as well as the use of a water source on the Black Mesa, a 2.1-million-acre highland in Northeast Arizona. The company's contracts with the Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe were approved despite opposition from those who disputed the authority of the official tribal councils. They were also negotiated by natural resources attorney John Sterling Boyden, who represented the Hopi tribe but whose firm had also represented Peabody in other legal matters, contributing to allegations of a conflict of interest.

When rail negotiations to transport coal from the project broke down, Peabody designed a coal slurry pipeline similar to a natural gas pipeline to transport the coal 273 miles to the Mohave Generating Station in Laughlin, Nevada. The company pumped potable water from the underground Navajo Aquifer (N-aquifer) to supply the slurry pipeline, a solution that generated controversy. The Navajo Aquifer is a main source of potable water for the Navajo and Hopi tribes, who use the water for farming and livestock maintenance as well as drinking and other domestic uses. Members of the tribes as well as outside environmental groups have alleged that the pumping of water by Peabody Energy has caused contamination of water sources and a severe decline in potable water. Peabody contends that operations consumed only one percent of the aquifer's water.

Peabody developed and operated two strip mines on the Black Mesa reservation: the Black Mesa Mine and the Kayenta Mine. The Black Mesa Mine suspended operations in 2006 after the mine's sole customer, the Mohave Station, was retired. The site was fully decommissioned in January 2010.