Tom Clarke, CEO of Kissito Healthcare in Roanoke, Va., turned heads last week when his Virginia Conservation Legacy Fund said that it would acquire some of the last remaining assets of Patriot Coal Corp., subject to bankruptcy court approval, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported on Saturday. Through a new coal company it formed, ERP Compliant Fuels LLC, Clarke’s environmental group would assume some $400 million of bankrupt Patriot’s liabilities for mine restoration and worker compensation. It would take over some closed mines and one that’s still producing, and it would keep mining coal there. Meanwhile, his group would plant millions of trees — enough to absorb 10 to 30 percent of the climate change-causing carbon dioxide that burning the coal would emit. They would get the amount certified and attach it to the coal, creating a premium product.
