Wikipedia

Drummond Company

Drummond Company, Inc.is a privately owned company based inBirmingham, Alabama,United States, involved in the mining and processing of coal and coal products as well as oil and real estate.

Drummond Company, Inc.
Company typePrivate
IndustryCoal Mining
Founded1935
FounderHeman Edward Drummond
HeadquartersBirmingham, Alabama,United States
Key people
Richard Lynn Mullen,Chief Executive Officer
ProductsCoal,By-Products,andReal Estate
RevenueIncrease$5.00 billionUSD(2016)
Number of employees
5,100 (2016)
Websitehttp:// drummondco /

History

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Belt conveyorfor coal transportation owned and operated by Drummond Company, located between the city ofSanta Martaand the town ofCienagaby theCaribbean SeainColombia.

The company was founded inJasper, Alabamain 1935 byHeman Edward Drummond,an Alabama coal miner.[1][2][3]Drummond started mining on land he inherited from his family; he used mules to drag coal out of the mines.[1]When Drummond died in 1956, the company remained family-owned.[1]

In 1970, the company signed a contract to sell coal to Japanese steel companies.[4][clarification needed]

In 1973,Garry N. Drummond,one of the founder's seven children, was appointed as chairman.[2]Another son,Elbert Allen "Larry" Drummondserved as vice chairman until his death in 2012.[5]During 1979–1980, these Drummond brothers, along with company executive Clyde Black, were indicted for bribing three Alabama legislators, by means of supplying them with prostitutes.[6][7][8][9]The three-month lawsuit was dismissed byJudge Frank McFadden.[6][7]

In 2003, the company was sued by widows and orphans of threeColombianlabor union leaders who were murdered byparamilitarygunmen near Drummond mines.[10]The lawsuit accused Drummond of "supporting paramilitary fighters at its facilities, thereby making Drummond liable for the deaths."[10]It was known asEstate of Rodriquez v. Drummond Co.By 2009, a U.S. federal court ruled in favor of the company, concluding that it had never supported any action of illegal groups.[11]

In February 2013, journalist Alejandro Arias reported with photographic evidence dumping of hundreds of tons of coal into theCaribbean Seaby the company a month earlier.[12]Based on this evidence the Colombian government temporarily suspended some operations of the company inSanta Martawhere the incident occurred.[12]Drummond was also fined US$3.6 million.[13]

As of December 2013, the company employed a workforce of 6,600, with annual sales of US$3 billion.[2]It was inducted into theAlabama Engineering Hall of Fame.[1]

In 2015, the Drummond Company sued attorneys Terrence P. Collingsworth and William R. Scherer, the advocacy group International Rights Advocates (IRAdvocates), and Dutch businessmanAlbert van Bilderbeek,one of the owners ofLlanos Oil,accusing them of violating theRacketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Actby alleging that Drummond had worked alongsideAutodefensas Unidas de Colombiato murder labor union leaders within proximity of their Colombian coal mines, which Drummond denies.[14]

In October 2018, David Roberson, previously the company's vice-president of government affairs, was sentenced to "two-and-a-half years in prison, followed by one year of supervised release", and fined $25,000 for his July 2018 convictions, alongside those of attorney Joel Iverson Gilbert (formerly, a partner active inBalch & Bingham's Environmental and Natural Resources section), on "six criminal charges each relating to a scheme intended to stop expansion of a toxic cleanup site in Jefferson County by theEnvironmental Protection Agency",through a bribe to former basketball player, then state legislatorOliver Robinson(who was also convicted), through use of hisnonprofit organization,The Oliver Robinson Foundation. Roberson maintained that he "trusted Joel" [Gilbert] and "never thought we were bribing Oliver Robinson."[15]

Assets and operations

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Coal mines

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Drummond operates the Pribbenow and El Descanso mines nearLa Lomain theCesar Departmentin northernColombia.Both mines producebituminous coal.Production from Pribbenow, comprising almost 50% of all coal mined in Colombia, is exported to 11 countries. The company is "Colombia’s second-biggest thermal coal producer."[16]

Perry Supply

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The company owns Perry Supply, a subsidiary founded in 1913, which sells "mining, foundry, construction, and industrial supplies."[17]

Foundry coke

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The company also owns Alabama By-Products Corporation, also known as ABC Coke, located inTarrant, Alabama.[2]According toForbes,it is "the largest single producer of foundry coke in the U.S.."[2]Starting 2015, Drummond funneled money though its law firm Balch & Bingham to a retired state legislatorOliver Robinson.In exchange for over $100,000, Robinson encouraged residents not to cooperate with theEnvironmental Protection Agency'sefforts to list areas of north Birmingham as aSuperfundsite due to pollution caused by ABC. In 2017 Robinson pled guilty to various corruption charges.[18]

Real estate

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The company manages "four luxury planned communities in Alabama, Florida and California."[4]In 1985, they developed their first community: Oakbridge inLakeland, Florida.[3]Over the years, they developed Liberty Park inVestavia Hills, Alabama,as well as Rancho La Quinta and Andalusia at Coral Mountain inLa Quinta, California.[1]

Alleged involvement with murder of union leaders

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Drummond has been accused of contracting paramilitaries since 2001 to murder union leaders who oppose company mining policies.[19][20][21][22]In 2000, the local branch of Sintramienergetica, the union that represents hundreds of Drummond workers, held several meetings with executives about contract negotiations and safety concerns.[20]That summer, four mine workers had been killed in a landslide, so workplace safety was an issue. They were also dissatisfied with the food served at the company cafeteria, where the workers ate almost all their meals. For example, workers would allegedly find rocks in the rice. Union members also say that staff at the cafeteria were armed and they felt this was unnecessary and unsafe. Union leaders Valmore Locarno and Victor Orcasita began to receive death threats. They asked Drummond for housing at the mine, so they wouldn't have to commute through areas controlled by paramilitaries. According to the testimony of former president of Drummond Augusto Jimenez, Drummond denied their housing request and Colombia's intelligence agency (Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad,or DAS by its Spanish initials) determined that the threat against them was of “medium to low risk” and did not grant the union leaders any security.[20]About a month later, paramilitaries stopped a company bus carrying union leaders Valmore Locarno and Victor Orcasita and other workers from the La Loma mine at the end of a shift on March 12, 2001. Locarno was shot in the head and Orcasita was tortured and killed. A third union leader, Gustavo Soler, replaced Locarno and was found dead in October.[19][22]

Drummond strongly denies the allegations.[21][22]A crew supervisor told an Alabama court in that 2007 case that managers at Drummond's mine, including Locarno's supervisor “said the union and the guerrillas were pretty much one and the same and also that they were responsible for the sabotage of the rail lines.”[20]Drummond's chief of security at the time, former CIA agent Jim Adkins, also believed there was a connection. In an interview with VICE World News in January 2021, Adkins said he still believes the attacks were connected to the tensions in negotiations between the union and the company. “The negotiations would break down and all of a sudden we would get a train blown up,” said Adkins, who believes that the guerrilla groups were enforcing the interests of the union, but declined to provide any proof. However, witnesses claim to have been present in a meeting where a list of names of trade union leaders was produced to be given to a paramilitary commander.[22]

In December 2020, the office of Colombia's attorney general charged two executives from the American coal company Drummond Company Inc. with financing and promoting the paramilitary group that killed these union leaders. The executives, former president of Drummond Augusto Jimenez and current president Jose Miguel Linares, are accused of financing the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC), which was the country's largest and deadliest paramilitary group in the decades long civil war in Colombia, during which paramilitaries and the government clashed with leftwing guerrillas.[20]U.S. courts have repeatedly ruled against the families of the Colombian victims.[21]

See also

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References

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  1. ^abcdeState of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame: DRUMMOND COMPANY INC.
  2. ^abcdeAmerica's Largest Private Companies: #162 Drummond,Forbes
  3. ^abRonnie Blair,'The Drummonds: Close-Knit, Self-Made Men',Lakeland Ledger, May 12, 1985
  4. ^abForbes: Garry Drummond
  5. ^E.A. "LARRY" DRUMMOND,The Birmingham News,August 1, 2012
  6. ^abAnthony Effinger, Matthew Bristow,Alabama Billionaire Battles Murder Suits as Prices Ebb,Bloomberg Business,July 16, 2013
  7. ^abDaniel Fisher,Alabama Coal Baron Uncovers Evidence Of Witness Payments In Attack On Lawyer,Forbes,June 6, 2014
  8. ^"Jurors questioned in racketeering trial".The Index-Journal (Greenwood, South Carolina).May 8, 1980. p. 25.RetrievedJuly 15,2015– viaNewspapers.
  9. ^"Probe of Coal Crime Continues".The Index-Journal (Greenwood, South Carolina).July 9, 1980. p. 17.RetrievedJuly 15,2015– viaNewspapers.
  10. ^abPui-Wing Tam, Marc Lifsher,Colombian Killings Land U.S. Company In American Court: Mining Concern Faces Suit Over Right-Wing Attacks; New Life for a 1789 Act,The Wall Street Journal,October 6, 2003
  11. ^Corte Federal de EE.UU falla a favor de Drummond dos demandas de sindicatos colombianos
  12. ^abEl periodista que puso en jaque a la Drummond,Semana (Colombia)
  13. ^Dan Molinski,Colombia Fines Drummond for Dumping Coal,The Wall Street Journal,December 19, 2013
  14. ^Kent Faulk,Drummond sues those claiming coal company involved in Colombian deaths,The Birmingham News,April 8, 2015
  15. ^Hrynkiw, Ivana"Former Drummond V.P. and Balch lawyer sentenced to federal prison", AL, Advance Local Media LLC., October 23, 2018. Retrieved October 27, 2018.
  16. ^Matthew Bristow,Colombia’s Top Coal Mine Reaches Accord That May End Strike,Bloomberg Business,March 4, 2013
  17. ^Drummond Company: Perry Supply
  18. ^Whitemore, Kyle (May 12, 2017)."Lawmaker under investigation after taking money, fighting Superfund cleanup of toxic neighborhoods".AL.Com.RetrievedDecember 31,2017.
  19. ^ab"Drummond coal goes on trial over Colombia killings".Reuters.July 12, 2007.RetrievedApril 13,2022.
  20. ^abcde"3 Union Leaders Were Shot Dead and Colombia Says an American Company Financed their Killers".vice.RetrievedApril 13,2022.
  21. ^abc"Colombia: Drummond possibly involved in union leaders' deaths".al.Associated Press. October 30, 2018.RetrievedApril 13,2022.
  22. ^abcd"CASE STUDY: Paramilitary violence allegedly contracted by Drummond in Colombia".Mind the Gap.RetrievedApril 13,2022.
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