- Chris Cline
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Chris Cline in his study.
Chris Cline is an American entrepreneur engaged in coal mining and a philanthropist. He is currently the majority owner of privately-held Foresight Reserves LP, with headquarters in Palm Beach, Florida.[1][2] Regarded by Bloomberg as the New King Coal,[3] Cline is considered responsible for reviving the Illinois coal industry. His company has more than three billion tons of coal reserves across Illinois and the Northern Appalachia.[1] According to Forbes, Cline has a net worth of $1.7 billion, ranking 278th among American billionaires and #736 in the Forbes list.[4]
Contents
Biography
Cline's grandfather mined for coal a century ago with a pickax around Beckley, West Virginia. At the age of six, his father, Paul, asked him to fill a paper bag with dirt, paying him a penny for each bag. Cline dug the dirt from under the porch of their bungalow in Isaban, West Virginia. His father used the dirt bags in mine-blasting. Within two years, their porch had collapsed.[5] According to Cline, his father had told him to "support the roof better."
In 1980, Cline's father bought out his partner then gave the shares to Cline, who was then 21 years old. At that time, he was studying psychology at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia.[3]
Breast cancer claimed Cline's first wife, Sabrina, in 1987. He remarried in 1993, but the relationship with his second wife, Kelly, ended with a divorce in 2000.[3]
At present, Cline, father to two sons and two daughters, owns a 33,413-square-foot (3,104.2 m2) mansion in Palm Beach, Florida,[6] and a house in Beckley, West Virginia, where his 150-acre (0.61 km2) property contains a lake, a go-kart track and pastures for his horses, goats and llamas.[3]
Mine Games
Cline also owns the 164-foot (50 m) luxury yacht Mine Games,[7] which can be rented for luxury cruises.[8] Mine Games, which has five staterooms and has its own submarine, was designed and built by Gulf Coast-based Trinity Yachts, owned by entrepreneur and philanthropist Felix Sabates.[9]
Philanthropy
The Herald-Dispatch has praised Cline's philanthropic activities in its editorial for July 26, 2011,[10] commenting that Cline "has not forgotten his roots."
On May 26, 2011, the School of Medicine and the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics of West Virginia University received a US$5 million donation from Cline through his Cline Family Foundation.[11] The donation also created the Christopher Cline Chair in Orthopaedic Surgery.
On July 20, 2011, Marshall University received a donation of $5 million from the Cline Family Foundation for sports medicine research. The donation was announced during a fundraising event held at Cline's Beckley home. [12]
Investing in Illinois coal
Illinois holds a 250-year supply of coal, providing the state with the largest recoverable coal reserve in the United States. The state's coal industry is valued at almost $1 billion, with coal mining operations across 12 counties.[13] One pound of Illinois coal, described as bituminous, can produce one kilowatt-hour of electricity.[14]
Cline, spending $300 million on mining rights and equipment in Illinois, had foreseen that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would require power plants to use scrubbers in removing pollutants. Illinois coal has too much sulfur to be safely burned by most power plants.[5]
In 2005, Foresight Energy built its Williamson longwall mining operation south of West Frankfort in Illinois.[15] Eventually, the coal mining division of the Cline Group acquired Exxonmobil's Monterey No. 1 mine, and developed Sugar Camp, Hillsboro, and the Macoupin complex.
SNL Financial reported in 2008 that Deer Run coal mine in Montgomery County, Illinois, a project of Cline's Hillsboro Energy LLC, would produce up to 8 million tons annually until 2016. In the same report, representatives for Cline said that he was aiming for an annual coal production of 60 million tons from Illinois alone.[16]
Promoting coal for cheap power
Cline said that instead of overreacting to minimal increases in atmospheric C02 and ocean levels, people should take advantage of the low-cost energy offered by coal.[3]
In an interview with Bloomberg, Cline said "As far as the social acceptability of coal, I like to think I’m part of supplying the cheapest energy in America."[3]
Opposition from environmentalists, other sectors
The State Journal-Register of Springfield, Illinois reported on July 19, 2010 that environmental activists took note of the generous donation of Cline's companies to Illinois politicians, especially in the context of Cline's mining operations in the state.[17] Another report, published on April 26, 2011, told about the opposition of local landowners against the longwall mining operations of Deer Run mine near Hillsboro.[18]
References
- ^ a b "The Carlyle Group : Foresight Reserves, LP". Carlyle.com. http://www.carlyle.com/portfolio/item10206.html. Retrieved 2011-07-10.
- ^ http://chriscline.org/bio/
- ^ a b c d e f Lippert, John (October 12, 2010). "New King Coal". Bloomberg Markets Magazine. Bloomberg L.P.. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-12/new-king-coal.html. Retrieved June 23, 2011. "Chris Cline became a billionaire by betting on a dirty fuel the world can’t get enough of. With maps of 675 square miles of his Illinois mines before him, Chris Cline recalls the moment he knew the coal in those mines would be worth billions of dollars."
- ^ "Christopher Cline". Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/profile/christopher-cline. Retrieved 2011-07-10.
- ^ a b Lippert, John (2010-10-12). "Cline Talking Clean as Coal Mines Supply Most Energy Since 1970". Bloomberg. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-12/cline-talking-clean-as-coal-mines-supply-most-energy-since-1970.html. Retrieved 2011-07-10.
- ^ "Chris Cline". SourceWatch. http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Chris_Cline#Background. Retrieved 2011-07-10.
- ^ "All About The Chris Cline Yacht Mine Games". Chrisclineyacht.com. http://chrisclineyacht.com/. Retrieved 2011-07-10.
- ^ http://chriscline.org/2011/09/20/booking-mine-games/
- ^ "Trinity Yachts". Trinity Yachts. http://www.trinityyachts.com/T033.ASP. Retrieved 2011-07-10.
- ^ http://www.herald-dispatch.com/opinions/x1974072478/Thumbs-up-Cline-donation-is-a-big-boost-for-Marshall?
- ^ "WVUToday | Press Releases | West Virginia University". Wvutoday.wvu.edu. http://wvutoday.wvu.edu/n/2011/5/26/wvu-academics-athletics-receive-5-million-gift-from-cline-family-foundation. Retrieved 2011-07-10.
- ^ http://www.marshall.edu/ucomm/RELEASE/2011/pr071411.htm
- ^ "Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity - Coal". Commerce.state.il.us. http://www.commerce.state.il.us/dceo/Bureaus/Coal/. Retrieved 2011-07-10.
- ^ http://www.commerce.state.il.us/NR/rdonlyres/EA15E8A9-E0BD-468A-A308-BE58E93D0C03/0/CoalinIllinois.pdf
- ^ "Foresight Energy Invests in Illinois". Coalage.com. 2010-12-07. http://www.coalage.com/index.php/features/820-foresight-energy-invests-in-illinois.html. Retrieved 2011-07-10.
- ^ "Article". SNL. http://www.snl.com/interactivex/article.aspx?CdId=A-7158748-9315. Retrieved 2011-07-10.
- ^ http://www.sj-r.com/top-stories/x242417430/Activists-raise-concerns-about-coal-mine-slurry-injection-in-Illinois
- ^ http://www.sj-r.com/top-stories/x1146475865/Deer-Run-producing-development-coal
External links
Categories:- Coal mining
- People from Beckley, West Virginia
- Living people
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