Peabody Energy Corporation (BTU), CONSOL Energy Inc. (CNX), Arch Coal Inc (ACI): King Coal Sends Piles of Cash to U.S. Government

Arch Coal:

“Legislative efforts to expand the Mercury Export Ban Act”

“Promoting Coal Exports”

“President’s FY2014 Budget”

Patriot Coal:

“Respond to Member and staff inquiries about Chapter 11 reorganization”

“Educate Members and staff regarding Patriot Coal’s Chapter 11 reorganization proceedings”

You’ll notice that there is no standard for language or disclosure; some companies eloquently record their actions, while others favor brevity. Regardless, these filings are chock-full of information for investors.

Bottom line
The industry spent about $2.8 million on lobbying in the first quarter; if that trend continues, it could result in a significant pullback compared to years past. However, it makes sense to wait for second-quarter data before even guessing at that call.

More importantly, spending a few minutes perusing the LDA forms of your investments every quarter can do two beneficial things for investors. It fills you in on exactly how much money your company is spending on lobbying, something that public companies rarely ever include in SEC filings. Second, it lets you know what issues management deems important enough to spend millions of dollars on. Money talks, and if the LDA forms don’t match up with what management has been preaching, you know there is a problem.

The article King Coal Sends Piles of Cash to U.S. Government originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Aimee Duffy.

Fool contributor Aimee Duffy has no position in any stocks mentioned. For more energy information, you can follow her on Twitter: @TMFDuffy.The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.

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