Press Releases

Peabody Energy's Appalachia subsidiaries have been honored with two awards for outstanding stewardship by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and the West Virginia Coal Association.

Eastern Associated Coal Corp.'s former Eagle No. 4 Mine in Wyoming County received a Reclamation Excellence Award for restoring 16 acres of surface land at the mine site. Despite steep terrain and difficult conditions, the area was restored to match the land's approximate original contour, creating spectacular wildlife habitat. The process re-used breaker rock for fill material, which is typically discarded, allowing for conservation of topsoil.

Pine Ridge Coal Company's former Robin Hood No. 8 Preparation Facility received a Reclamation Excellence Award for reclaiming the plant area and associated refuse disposal sites. In addition to removing coal handling facilities from the land, employees successfully used a direct seeding method to reclaim about 225 acres.

"Stewardship is a core value and central to our mission, which pledges to leave the land in a condition equal to or better than we found it," said Jiri Nemec, Peabody's Group Vice President of U.S. Eastern Operations. "We are proud to be recognized among the industry's most innovative for results that will benefit communities for years to come."

Peabody operations and affiliates have earned more than 20 major awards for stewardship in the past two years. The honors include 2005 U.S. Department of the Interior Gold, Silver and Bronze Good Neighbor Awards for working with communities to develop sustainable programs, and two 2005 National Reclamation Excellence Awards for developing managed grazing programs and wetlands restoration.

Peabody Energy is the world's largest private-sector coal company, with 2005 sales of 240 million tons of coal and $4.6 billion in revenues. Its coal products fuel approximately 10 percent of all U.S. electricity generation and 3 percent of worldwide electricity.

The use of "Peabody," "the company," and "our" relate to Peabody, its subsidiaries and majority-owned affiliates.

  CONTACT:
  Beth Sutton
  (505) 287-2636

SOURCE: Peabody Energy