Peabody Energy Re-Elects Directors At Annual Shareholders Meeting

ST. LOUIS, May 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Peabody Energy

Re-elected directors are:

    --  Gregory H. Boyce, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Peabody
        Energy;
    --  William A. Coley, former Chief Executive Officer of British Energy Group
        plc;
    --  William E. James, co-founder and Managing General Partner of RockPort
        Capital Partners LLC;
    --  Robert B. Karn III, former Managing Partner with Arthur Andersen in St.
        Louis;
    --  M. Frances Keeth, former Executive Vice President of Royal Dutch Shell,
        plc;
    --  Henry E. Lentz, former Managing Director of Lazard Freres & Co. LLC;
    --  Robert A. Malone, former Executive Vice President of BP plc and CEO of
        the First National Bank of Sonora, Texas;
    --  William C. Rusnack, former President and Chief Executive Officer of
        Premcor Inc.;
    --  John F. Turner, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau
        of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs;
    --  Sandra A. Van Trease, Group President of BJC Healthcare; and
    --  Alan H. Washkowitz, former Managing Director of Lehman Brothers Inc.

Peabody Energy is the world's largest private-sector coal company and a global leader in sustainable mining and clean coal solutions. The company serves metallurgical and thermal coal customers in more than 25 countries on six continents. For further information, go to PeabodyEnergy.com and CoalCanDoThat.com.

CONTACT:


Meg Gallagher


(314) 342-7963

Peabody Energy

Web site: http://www.peabodyenergy.com/