Why do the coal companies form Limited Liability Corporations (LLCs)?
This is done primarily to reduce their liabilities. What we have in every place that Cline of West Virginia is operating is a multi layer limited liability corporation structure. This is now the case in Southern Illinois at the Pond Creek mine originally owned by Colt Coal, another LLC subsidiary of Cline. When structured this way, it is extremely difficult for any person or organization to know just WHO or WHICH LLC is responsible for what. It is clear that this is not done by accident. In Montgomery County, Colt Coal has formed another LLC named Hillsboro Energy (named for the county seat where the office is located – isn’t that nice!) and they don’t even yet have enough acreage to plan a mine site. If they follow their previous route, there will be several more LLC’s associated with whatever mine is eventually opened in Montgomery County.
