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P&M coal mine cuts 28 jobs by PHII. ELLSWORTH Ari uncertain futIIr~await5 28 Routt County coal miners and their families. The Pittsburg & Midway Coal Company announced the layoffs from the company's Edna Mine near Oak Creek on New Yeais Eve. A company spokesman said the layoffs were the result of tighter emission controls by Public Service of Colorado and tougher competition from area coal producers. Salaries at the mine averaged $45,000 which would mean a loss of $1.2 million to the area in paychecks alone, not to mention secondary effects on other businesses. The 28 workers, some of whom have worked for the company for more than 20 yeazs, will have to wait and see if the company can secure some new coal sales contracts outside Colorado. The layoffs, said P&M public affairs manager Fred Meurer, "were done specifically because the company has no coal sales committed for 1995 out of the Edna Mine." Meurer said only seven of the mine's 35 hourly employees will remain at the mine for now. Those workers will be responsible for the company's ongoing reclamation work and eguipment maintenance. Last year P&M had a sales contract with Public Service Company of Colorado for roughly 400,000 tons of coal from the Edna Mine. Thst amount made up the ]ion's share of the mine's annual sales of 576,000 tons for 1994. But when PSC lowered its emissions limits from 1.2 pounds of sulfur dioxide per million Btus to 1.1 pounds, the mine's coal, considered to be of borderline quality by PSC, was dropped. The layoffs "were done specifically because the company has no coal sales committed for 1995 out of the Edna Mine." - P&M spokesman Fred Meurer The mine's wal, Meurer said is shout .6 to .7 percent sulfur - very good by most standards - but just didn't meet the buyer's emmissions criteria. Meurer also cited production costs as a factor in the layoffs. The surface mine operates a single dragline with a 40-cubic- yard bucket and has found it more and more difficult to compete with the area's more mechanized, underground mines. "Our workforce is very good and it's done everything it can," he added. The company will continue to "aggressively try to find a new contract with a major utility out of state," he said. All of the 28 workers laid off were members of _the United Mine Workers of America Local 6778. Local president Sam Montieth was one of those laid off. Montieth said the layoffs didn't come as a complete surprise because it was known among employees that the PSC contract had not been renewed. He said he's been working at the mine for 18 years. Montieth was laid off before as well, in 1986. He then went to work at the Colowyo Coal Company mine near Craig. He later received word that the Edna Mine was hiring again and went back in 1990. He said he's heazd that the mine has bid on another contract and that word on that contract could come by the end of the month. He expects P&M will reconsider in May whether to continue operations at the mine. "The sales department is working on the possibility all the time," said Montieth, who started out at the Edna Mine in 1972 on the conveyor belt crew. He went on to work as a "driller/shooter," drilling rock and using explosives to loosen the rock so the dragline can expose the coal seam. Meanwhile, Meurer said the mine. will keep nine salaried employees on staff in addition to the eight hourly workers. The mine will also continue to sell stoker coal indefinitely. The laid-off employees, who brought more than 800 years combined mining experience to the job, have made up a loyal, dedicated workforce, Meurer said. The mine was started in the late 1940s, was purchased in 1961 by P&M, and produced over one million tons of coal per year fur seven years in the 1970s, until sales began to drop off in 1981. __ _