Peabody Spends Big on Politics

Peabody Energy is the biggest coal mining company in the world. Their web site says they fuel nearly 10% of U.S. electricity. In 2007 they expect to sell 265 million tons of coal. They’re also big political spenders. If my calculations are correct, based on publicly available data their employees have contributed more than $400,000.00 to various candidates’ campaign committees and to the RNC. This is exclusive of many donations to their PAC which gives to a wide variety of candidates including Evan Bayh, Mel Carnahan and others.

Here in KY they also have a history of giving. Their general manager has given to Governor Fletcher as well as Democrats like Jody Richards, Bob Damron and Jim Gooch.

Here's a listing of most of the donations company employees have made over the past few years. It’s exclusive of donations to their PAC. I hope I’ve accurately depicted these donors employer. There seem to be several Peabody entities, but I weeded through and grabbed only the ones that were seemingly associated with big coal.
Obviously this is a powerful company.