Chris Cline

In 1980 at age 22, Cline became an underground miner and founded his own energy development company, the Cline Group in 1990. In 2006 he organized Foresight Energy to manage his Illinois Basin coal rights. Foresight Energy went public in 2014 on the New York Stock Exchange.[7] Cline sold off most of his share of Foresight in 2015, for $1.4 billion.[8]

Illinois holds a 250-year supply of coal, providing the state with the largest recoverable coal reserve in the United States. In 2017, the state consumed nearly $1.4 billion of coal,[9] with coal mining operations located in 12 counties.[10] However, Illinois coal has too much sulfur to be burned by most power plants because of pollution control requirements.[6] Cline, who spent $300 million on mining rights and equipment in Illinois in the 1990s, had foreseen that the United States Environmental Protection Agency would require power plants to use scrubbers in removing pollutants, which would bring coal back into viability for electricity generation.

In 2005, Cline Group built its Williamson longwall mining operation south of West Frankfort, Illinois.[11]

The company SNL Financial reported in 2008 that Deer Run coal mine in Montgomery County, Illinois, a project of Cline's Hillsboro Energy LLC, would produce up to eight million tons annually until 2016. In the same report, Cline's representatives stated he was aiming for an annual coal production of 60 million tons from his Illinois operations.[12]

Illinois environmental groups and landowners attempted to block Cline's coal mine operations, and also sought to draw attention to his local political contributions.[13][14]

Cline purchased a Nova Scotia metallurgical coal mine after selling off Foresight stock, as well as rights to coal reserves in Western Canada.[8]

Cline defended coal as a source of low-cost energy, saying in a 2010 interview "As far as the social acceptability of coal, I like to think I’m part of supplying the cheapest energy in America."[3]

Cline owned two megayachts that he christened "Mine Games". The first was a 164-footer built by Trinity Yachts, delivered in 2008.[22] He sold the yacht in 2013, later purchasing another 205-foot (62 m) larger luxury yacht that he also christened "Mine Games".[23] Mine Games, which had five staterooms and its own submarine, was designed and built by Italy-based Benetti in 2010. Cline sold the yacht in the fall of 2018.[24]

In 2015, Jasper Reserves, LLC, owned by Cline, donated one million dollars to Super PACs supporting the presidential candidacy of Jeb Bush.[25]

On August 20, 2012, Vivek Shah was arrested for the attempted extortion of Chris Cline, Harvey Weinstein, and three other individuals.[26] On or around June 26, 2012, Shah threatened to kill members of Cline's family if $13 million was not wired to an offshore bank account.[27] A seven-count felony indictment against Shah was filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles in September 2012, and in 2013 he was sentenced to seven years in prison.[28]

On July 4, 2019, Cline died in a helicopter crash in Grand Cay, Bahamas. He was 60 years old.[29][30][31]

Other people also died with Cline, including his 22-year-old daughter Kameron and her three friends (Brittney Searson, Jillian Clark, and Delaney Wykle). The other casualties were golfer David Jude and the aircraft's pilot, Geoffrey Lee Painter, an ex-Royal Air Force pilot from Barnstaple, United Kingdom.[30][31][32]

In 2014, Chris Cline Athletic Complex, an indoor football practice facility at Marshall University, was dedicated for Cline.[33]