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Community braces for "ripple effect" of lost mining jobs

Posted August 31, 2007 11:00 pm

Debra Landis

VIRDEN - "It won't be good. That's for sure," Virden businessman, city council member and historian John Alexander said of the effect on his community of this week's announcement that the nearby Crown II coal mine is being idled indefinitely.

The decision, announced Thursday by new owners, has left about 175 miners and 17 other employees of the mine looking for work.

"I have heard that some of the miners have already started to move out of their apartments in Virden. I think we're going to see a ripple effect," Alexander said Friday.

He noted that since coal mining in Illinois began in the 1800s, mining communities have been subject to the highs and lows of the coal market.

According to the new Springfield Coal Co., which is buying Springfield-based Freeman United Coal Mining Co. from its owner, General Dynamics, an ebb in the market has made continued operation of the Crown II mine financially impractical.

Crown II, in northern Macoupin County about 20 miles south of Springfield, and the companion Crown III mine, near Farmersville, both are idle due to the sale.

Springfield Coal said operations at Crown III, which employs about the same number of miners, will resume Tuesday.

Tom Austin, human resources vice president for Springfield Coal, which was formed by a group of four upper-level managers at Freeman, said that unless the demand for coal increases dramatically, Crown II will remain closed.

Generations of Virden families have been coal miners, so what happened this week is nothing new. The community has seen at least three mines close and go out of business, Alexander said.

"We've survived, but we have always felt the impact," he said, noting that Virden's population was between 4,000 and 5,000 in the 1920s. It's now less than 3,500.

Representatives of Local 1969 of the United Mine Workers of America met Friday morning with union miners at the Knights of Columbus hall in Virden to discuss the closing of Crown II. Many had worked there for as long as the 32-year-old mine has been open.

Ken Lebeter, in his early 60s, and Greg Mahan, in his late 50s and president of Local 1969, said they could retire but really didn't want to yet.

"This is the first time (in my adult life) I have ever been without a job," Lebeter said.

Joel Slightom, 37, worked at Crown II for four years. He said veteran miners, noting the highs and lows of the industry, counseled him when he started at Crown II to have savings for a financial cushion should the mine ever close.

"They told me, 'This isn't a forever deal. Make sure you poke a little aside,'" Slightom recalled.

Because of the lack of available coal mining jobs in the immediate area, Slightom said he'll likely have to look for employment in another field. His wife has a job and benefits, he said, with the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine.

"I will start looking. I have done construction before," Slightom said.

In addition to losing their jobs, Crown II miners say they're losing time with co-workers who've become their friends.

"We look out for each other," said Slightom, referring to attention to mine safety.

Mahan said that while clean coal-burning technology has been developed in the United States, more such innovations are needed to lessen the country's reliance on foreign oil.

Many parts of Illinois and other states, Mahan noted, sit on countless tons of coal reserves.

Looking to the possibility of a sooner-than-desired retirement from coal mining, Mahan said, "I had hoped to work at least two or three more years."

Debra Landis can be reached at (217) 483-4352.

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