The U.S. government fears Alpha Natural Resources Inc.'s proposal to sell its "crown jewel assets" to its lenders won't provide for cleaning up pollution at Alpha's mines, posing a "serious threat to public health and safety,“ Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. The coal miner's plan to sell key assets to its lenders, whose $500 million bid Alpha wants to test through an auction process, has drawn some two dozen bankruptcy-court filings from creditors raising various concerns with the proposal or objecting outright. Among them is the federal government. The lenders' credit bid---that is, not hard cash but rather a pledge to forgive $500 million in debt they are owed---puts Alpha at risk of becoming unable to comply with its obligations to reclaim the land and treat the water at its mines, the government said.
