Protesters rally in front of the Peabody Energy headquarters in downtown St. Louis on April 29, 2013. They gathered to draw attention to a Patriot Coal case regarding the health care benefits of 10,000 retired miners. Peabody spun off Patriot in 2007.
1000 Crosses were planted by protesters on a hill in Kiener Plaza. The crosses signified the deaths of former miners, as well as the potential loss of healthcare for retired miners.
Credit Sean Sandefur/ St. Louis Public Radio
Jimmy Gerald, a member of United Mine Workers of America, hammers down his cross in to Kiener Plaza.
Credit Sean Sandefur/ St. Louis Public Radio
Protesters didn't let the pouring rain get to them. They stood in the cold for close to an hour, listening to various speakers.
Hundreds of retired and current union miners from across the country descended on St. Louis on Tuesday to protest Peabody Energy and the potential loss of their pension plans.
Most of the miners worked for either Peabody Energy or Arch Coal, but their benefits are threatened by the bankruptcy of Patriot Coal last year. Patriot was spun off from Peabody in 2007, along with the healthcare obligations of many Peabody and Arch Coal employees.
One of the nation's biggest coal producers says federal security regulators are investigating the company's role in development of a southwestern Illinois power plant.
St. Louis-based Peabody Energy Corp. says in its annual report that the Securities and Exchange Commission served the company with a subpoena last month requesting information and documents related to the Prairie State project.