Centralia coal mine to close; 600 lose jobs

CALGARY, Alberta — A Canadian company has shut down its 35-year-old coal mine in Centralia, Wash., throwing 600 people out of work, but plans to keep a major generating plant running with coal from Wyoming.

The 225 power plant jobs were not affected, and workers who were idled when the nearby mine closed Monday afternoon will continue to receive pay and benefits through the end of January, according to a statement issued by TransAlta Corp. President Steven G. Snyder after financial markets closed for the day.

The company also has reserved $5 million to help with the community’s transition, said Doug Jackson, president of TransAlta’s U.S. operations.

The mine has become increasingly expensive to operate as workers had to go ever deeper into the Earth, Snyder noted.

A landslide at the mine last month “was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back,” Jackson told The Olympian newspaper in Olympia, Wash.

“The maturity of the Centralia mine, its rapidly deteriorating mining conditions and escalating costs from excessive overburden have combined to make the mine uneconomic,” Snyder said. “In order to produce competitively priced electricity from our Centralia coal-fired plant, we have to meet the fuel requirements for our plant from a more predictable and economic source.”

TransAlta will seek approval for coal mining nearby at a site known as West Field, but that process is expected to take from three to five years, Jackson said.

Avista Corp. was half-owner of the Centralia mine until 1990.

TransAlta has signed long-term contracts with Rio Tinto Energy America and Peabody Energy for coal with less sulfur and mercury from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and with BNSF Railway Inc. to handle shipments, according to the statement.

The 1,404-megawatt plant supplies about 8 percent of the electricity used in Washington state and has long been an economic mainstay of southwest Washington’s Lewis County, especially with the decline in the forest products industry in the past 20 years. As of 2000, mine and plant workers were paid an average of $54,000 a year, The Olympian reported.

“I deeply regret the impact this decision has on our Centralia employees, their families and the surrounding communities,” Snyder said. “Our miners have worked hard to extend the life of the mine as long as possible.”

Area political leaders said they were surprised, although they knew the mine was having problems.

“I am deeply concerned about what the decision means for the employees, their families and the local economy,” Rep. Brian Baird, D-Wash., told The Olympian. “In the long term, we must find ways to bring new industry and economic development to this area.”

Centralia Mayor Tim A. Browning said the mine paid about 20 percent of school taxes in the area and the shutdown will likely depress real estate valuations that determine how much other property owners pay.

“It takes my breath away,” Browning said.