A Pike County coal operator has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Clintwood JOD LLC, which operates mines in eastern Kentucky and southwest Virginia, filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky last week.
According to court filings, Clintwood owes the Kentucky State Treasury more than $3.3 million in severance taxes.
The company owes more than $1.2 million combined in property and mineral taxes to Pike County and Grundy County, Virginia.
It also owes regional electric utility Kentucky Power more than $1 million.
All are among Clintwood’s largest unsecured creditors, meaning it owes money to those parties without collateral.
Unsecured creditors generally rank lower in priority for repayment in bankruptcy proceedings.
According to its website, Clintwood has access to reserves of 56 million tons of high-quality metallurgical, or steelmaking coal.
It has 12 permitted underground and eight permitted surface mines, as well as two preparation plants.
The metallurgical coal market has contracted in the past year, in part due to overseas competition and U.S. trade policies that have made domestic suppliers less favorable.
Southern West Virginia has seen hundreds of coal workers laid off in the past 12 months.
According to the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet, coal mines employed 3,600 workers statewide in the last three months of 2025, an all-time low.
State data show the state shed 400 coal mining jobs throughout 2025.
