The Excavator That Bankrupted an Entire Company — Big Muskie

Big Muskie wasn’t a machine — it was a bet.
A 13,500-ton dragline built for one purpose: move obscene amounts of earth so Ohio coal could keep feeding America’s power grid. It carried a 220-cubic-yard bucket, stood taller than a ten-story building, and burned through electricity at a rate no mining operation had ever attempted.
For Central Ohio Coal and its parent utility, Big Muskie was supposed to guarantee decades of production. Instead, it became a financial anchor. As environmental regulations tightened, coal contracts shifted, and electricity prices soared, the cost of operating Big Muskie pushed margins toward zero. The machine that was built to secure the company’s future became a symbol of how fast an industry can turn against itself.
This film explores the economic chain reaction behind Big Muskie:
why it was built at unprecedented scale


how operating costs spiraled beyond expectations


how market and regulatory pressure crushed profitability


and why the company behind it could not financially outrun its own creation


Big machines don’t bankrupt companies by themselves.
But when energy economics, government policy, and industrial ambition collide, a single machine can become the point where everything breaks.